Ranma of the Shield
by fanboy913
Summary: Weird things happen all the time but for Ranma they are often a bit stranger. Pulled away from his chaotic life in Japan he finds himself a standing in a world on the edge of destruction. Follow his adventures there as he saves a country that thinks he is a devil shows this world what damage a martial artist can do. And for the first time in his life attract women that dont hit him
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

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><p>Hey so there is the light novel out called <strong>tate no yuusha no nariagari<strong> and it is a really good really fun read and I found myself wondering what would happen if Ranma had been sucked into it as the main character .

If you want to read the light novel go to Baka Tsuki they have a good chunk of it up and translated.

so without further ado behold Ranma Of The Shield

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><p>"Ranma You Jerk!" Akane howled<p>

Crap, he thought flinching slightly as a mallet rocketed towards his head, what the hell had he done now. Granted most of the time this happened he was usually saying something stupid and insensitive. Of course it was his opinion that being hit in the head for an insensitive word was a bit much. Any normal person would have died instantly from the blunt force trauma of her blow. She might not have been in the same level as him or Ryoga or even Shampoo, her strength was close.

But seriously what the hell had he done, he was reading a freaking book for crying out loud _The Weapons of the Four Saints _author Unknown. He was literally just sitting here with his mouth closed. The book was just starting with a prophecy about four heroes who would save the world and the weapons they would use, the sword, the lance, the bow, and the shield.

"This author must have had strange Ideas of martial arts to consider a Shield a weapon, within the anything goes style anything could be a weapon but few other styles considered the shield a weapon in its own right.

*BLAM*

The hammer smashed into his temple and he vaguely heard the girl yelling at him about reading perverted literature. "What!" he yelled back as he reached the peak of his five hundred foot climb why would she think that?.

The book in his hand opened to black pages, "Well that's a waste" He thought "I was kind of looking forward too...wait was the blank page expanding?"

His danger senses started buzzing as he felt the unmistakable sensation of magic, gods know he had enough life experience with the stuff to notice the way it felt. But currently flying as he was and about to begin a long painful descent to earth. He was in no good position to do anything about it, he crossed his arms defensively letting go of the book.

The blankness expanded and he was about a foot into his descent when his ass hit marble. His entire body stiffened in shock at the unexpected stop to his descent. He was up on his feet instantly barely avoiding falling over from the disorientation. He was standing in a throne room, on just like some of those foreign history texts described. The floor was marble with a red carpet that led forward. There were twelve pillars supporting the room with banners hanging from them majestically. Around him were several men in long robes and more than a few men in armor armed with spears.

Instinct instilled into his core centered his body's stance, his arms raised in preparation for combat. That was when he saw his right arm, ok his day was officially of fkilter now. Sudden magic he could deal with, finance kidnapping demigods were par for the course now a days along with a certain forever lost boy demanded a fight when he was not too busy bathing with Akane as P-chan. But find a shield that had not been there before and what's more to find it fused to his arm that, that was really weird.

He shook his arm a little and confirmed his observation about trying to remove it, he whirled moving the shield defensively. There were three people standing there, one held a sword in his hands looking somewhat confused. He was perhaps near the same age as Ranma with dark black hair that gave him a Bishōnen look that many girls found attractive. He wore a dark jacket and black turtleneck along with dark colored slacks. The sword in his hand was ornate with a blue gem at its hilt and gold trim and outlines along the blade, shaft and hilt. Strangely Ranma noted the boy's eyes matched the gem in his blade.

Next to him was a smiling lightly blonde haired boy who did not look put out by his current situation. He was the slightly taller than then the dark haired sword user and wore a uniform similar to the upper class high school students that Ranma had seen. Across his back was a bow inlaid similar to the sword but with a yellow gem fused into its core. And like the other boy beside him his eyes were an unnaturally yellow similar to the gem in the bow.

The third man was taller than all of them looking closer to an adult than a teen his hair was longer than normal hanging about him in a playboy style, he seemed quite calm about the situation and had a gold inlaid spear with a red gem at the base of the head. And like the other two his red eyes matched its color.

Ranma risked a glance down at the shield now attached to his arm, it was in the medieval French style of creation with a wide top thick center and a pointed end. Strangely the way the shield was positioned on his hand was awkward. It would be really easy to punch something with it but to use it for defense he would have to treat it like part of his arm. Which strangely worked well if it came to a fight his arm was now a much better defensive object. Speaking of objects the shield was in inlayed with gold like the rest of the weapons here. Its ends were outlined in black with two lines going horizontally out to almost surrounded a large palm sized green gem. The marble floor was polished to shine and in its reflection Ranma could see his own eyes, no longer brown but green as the gem on this weapon.

Quietly so no one could here he muttered "What the fuck"

The boys behind him were talking calmly as if this was just an everyday occurrence not a sudden shift of reality. A man approached them he wore robes similar to the men around them but his head was uncovered and a circlet of gold was around his brow. "Hero saints of old" he said loudly, dramatically.

"_Please don't say it_" Ranma thought suddenly understand a bit about his situation, if the words he expected were coming he was not going to be able to do the sensible thing and find out how to get home as quickly as possible.

"Please save our world"

Ranma face palmed and groaned "Crap" he muttered.

The man speaking to him seemed either not to see or just ignore his actions, "While I'm certain you are all very taken aback by your circumstances time runs short for us. Within our country of Melromarc vicious demons in large numbers have crawled out from a materialized dimensional crack and are exposing everyone to great danger!" The man took a breath and continued "Our countries knights and adventures barely managed to eliminate the first wave of demons, but the hourglass is already indicating the next wave of calamities will soon be upon us."

Ranma looked at the man, he was clearly desperate his voice was high and strained. The man it seemed was afraid, deathly afraid of the things he was describing. "A martial artist protects the weak" echoed his pa's voice. The old man had not given him many good things besides martial arts and that one expression in fact unlike some people seemed to believe Ranma was well aware the man was a terrible parent, a horrible role model and a complete hypocrite. But that one phrase still stuck with him even if the old man had been manipulating him, he still believed those words, he still lived his life by them.

And now here he was apparently summoned to another world, a plot right out of a manga to save it from encroaching darkness. "Protect the weak" above all else, above going home, above honor, above his own life itself he would fulfill his duty as a martial artist.

But fucking hell since when was the chaos in his life strong enough to get him sent to another world. At the forefront of the room a man sat on his throne, dressed in regal attire with a crown atop his head. He had remained silent as the man in robes had spoken but as that man finished his voice rolled over the room. Hell Ranma thought they probably built the room so that his voice would echo over the whole of it.

"I am this country's king Aultcray, the thirty second ruler of Melromarc. Should you save this glorious country you will be duly compensated."

"_Country_" Ranma thought "_What happened to the world saving part._"

"I have aid funds prepared for you. I ask that you work to your fullest," the man paused looking over them. Perhaps Ranma imagined it but he swore that he felt an instant of killing instinct as the King's eyes passed over him.

"Now then heroes, I will now hear of your names"

The dark haired one answered first "My name is Amaki Ren, age 16 High schooler"

The bow whilding blond stated "I'm Kawasuki Itsuki, 17 years old I'm in high school as well"

The taller blond spear wilder answered in a casual voice while extensively eyeing several of the ladies in the room "My Names Kitamura Motoyasu and I'm a university student."

"Heroes of the Sword, Bow, and Spear, those called Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu be welcome in my court."

Ranma had been opening his mouth to say something but the king had continued on as if he was not there. He narrowed his eyes but did nothing he could feel something was off. The way the king had spoken had deliberately cut him off, and he could sense the uneasy eyes on him from the men in the clocks. A glance at the guards told him that they were watching waiting to move if he did something threatening. Strange way to treat someone you summoned to save you.

The man in the gold circuit spoke up again "Now if everyone could please confirm their statues?"

Ranma stayed quiet as the two of the "Heroes" asked what he had been thinking "Status?"

"You haven't noticed it by now?" the dark haired boy asked "Don't you see some kind of icon in your field of vision?"

The genderbending martial artist felt a stab of humility pierce him, he had been so focused on everyone else he had failed to see a little floating picture of himself that appeared when he turned his head. Ok this world was getting stranger and stranger "Now you just concentrate you consciousness on it" Ren finished.

That part was easy, a large screen as if from a futuristic three dimensional hologram appeared before him. To the top right there was a picture of him with his age and gender above it, strangely the hologram had cursed written beside the gender. Which meant this, this status screen acknowledged his Jusenkyo curse as it had a slash next to the word Male with female on the other side of the slash.

Below the picture of himself green eyes and all was the words positions with an arrow next to it skills below that, magic below that and help below that. Next that column was another column that read "status affects". Under it was written several things "Anything Goes Circular Ki Technique, Anything Goes Way Of The Monkey Status, Neko Ken Forbidden Technique, and Permanent Curse of the drowned girl."

Ranma blinked twice and touched the first status affect. "The Anything Goes Circular Ki Technique is the result of the moxibustion status being inflicted on the individual. By taking the bodies ki save just enough to survive the energy is placed in an endless loop within the body. After a time the loop becomes permanent whether or not the moxibustion had been lifted. This Ki loop encourages body and ki growth within the individual. Also has the side effect of making one not only immune to the moxibustion curse but any curse that would sap strength as well."

Ranma did not speak but in his mind he was screaming "That freaking perverted old man was training me that whole time?!

Deep breaths, deep breaths, he got out of that screen and touched the second one, "The Anything goes way of the Monkey is the core tenet of the style. It is this mental state in which the user of anything goes copies enemy stances and techniques. One a practitioner of the anything goes style achieves this status he or she is given the first rank of master."

*Eye twitch* "I was already a master and they never told me!" he said causing the three heroes and most of the people around him to give him a strange look.

Crap he had said that out loud, well so what, he pushed the title Neko Ken Forbidden Technique "A ritual in which a bestial spirit of the wild is summoned by the pain of a child and enters a symbiotic relationship with the host. Warning only an evil bastard or a complete moron would actually do this. Due to not only the agony inflicted on the child for the ritual but the high chance the child will be taken over by the beast. This Technique gives the user a pathological fear of cats, increased xp growth, increased body growth and increased ki growth as well as ki potency."

Ranma took a deep breath and said nothing pushing the last status effect " Permanent Curse of the drowned girl, this is a permanent cures in which cold water changes the user to a girl and warm water changes them back. Warning only a deity level being can remove this cures as there are no cures, you better get used to it. Warning Stats of the genders may be different. "

"Smart ass help system" He muttered.

Above the status conditions was his name, the words Shield Hero LV 1, and the Equipment slot which had the words "Small Shield(Legendary Weapon). And last but not least below that to the far left was a Hexagon with words written at each point. "Attack, was on the top, Defense was to its left, below defense was HP, and at the bottom of the hexagon opposite from attack was the letters MP. To MP's right was the word Intelligence with agility above that and coming full circle back to attack.

The hexagon was white filled in with blue to inform the person just what their current...status was. Ranma wondered if his was broken, everything was filled in with blue save for a very sharp dip in intelligence and a dip to the half-way point in agility. Other than that Attack was maxed, Defence was maxed, HP was maxed, MP was. Ranma frowned as the status of MP changed a slash appearing next to it with the word Ki. Ok so MP/KI was maxed.

He noticed beside the hexagon was to arrows bent into a circle he touched it and the hexagon flipped over a word flashing over the top saying "Girl Side" Attack dipped to about half way and HP took a moderate hit but agility and intelligence were suddenly maxed out."

Well that kind of made sense, he well knew his girl from was weaker but faster. However he did not remember feeling any smarter or perhaps there was a joke here he was missing.

He had pretty much ignored what was around him, the three "Heroes" next to him had been talking about games or being rewarded for their future efforts or something he had not really paid attention. The words "Hey you have a shield." Itsuki said.

Ranma looked up eyebrow raised "Well that's too bad" the older one Motoyasu said.

But before anything else would be spoken the king stood "Its fine now,

"Who would do that?" the bow hero asked.

The king smiled at him "They are many people who have volunteered to join you on your journeys, you will grow and strengthened your legendary weapons with them. We are in the process of gathering them right now."

That did not make sense "Wait" Ranma said, he had allowed just a hint of his ki to enter his voice and the sound while not oppressing was heard by all.

Another time there was the smallest flash on killing instinct but the king asked "Yes hero of the shield?"

"If you summoned us to fight against some wave of demons, and I assume we are going to fight them together would it not make more sense for us to learn how to fight together?"

The other three nodded slightly at his statement "Ah were it only so easy Shield, you see the legendary weapons if near each other for long amounts of time impede the growth of each other."

"Their sentient?" Ranma asked.

The king shrugged "that is still being argued in the academies," before Ranma could ask anything else the king smoothly interrupted him "The sun is already beginning to set. Brave Ones, please take your time and rest for the day. You may depart for your journey tomorrow. During that time I shall finish making arrangements and scout for talented individuals who can accompany you on your destiny.

Well that sounded all well and nice but if they were summoning them why weren't those people already on hand? He thought about it for a moment and made his best guess, they were not sure if this was going to work.

Several cute servant girls came up to them and led them off to their quarters, the spear guy shamelessly flirted with them, and the girls did not seem to mind. They did however give him a wider berth than was normal. Nothing in their faces said anything but they would quickly look away if he tried to lock eyes with them. And not in the, this guy is hot kind of way, the please you're scaring me kind of way.

The guest room was huge with four three beds set up and a fourth on being hurriedly put together. Again as if they had next expected a fourth, the three people with him did not say anything not that Ranma could blame them. A bed while nice was not something he needed to rest, he grabbed a pillow from it and lied himself down much to the servants shock.

But that did not matter, he opened his status window and immediately started exploring, first the weapon. Its description was interesting, the legendary weapon did not require maintenance, and it could absorb different raw materials to grow in strength. He scrolled over the the help section to look up what raw materials constituted as, "Monster parts like skin meat eyes, special sections like tails or wings. Also crafting items, rare materials, hair, blood," the list went on for quite a bit. So it meant potentially anything could be absorbed by the shield or at least it was best to try most things.

He went back to the weapon and touched the icon twice, a list of branching names filled his vision. Hundreds of different types of shields "What the hell am I going to do with all of them?" Ranma wondered. Ah there was a description "Each weapon transformation changes the users weapon, it can grant equipment bonus, and special abilities, when the requirements are met each weapon has a true power that when unsealed gives the user a permanent boost of some kind"

Ranma went back to the main screen and touched the skill section, lots of words came up most of them things like "Medicine Level N/A" most of the skills there had that "Not Available" symbol next to them. Skills like crafting wood, crafting metal, and various other ones. But several were much different, "Martial Arts Level Grandmaster"

His self-confidence glowed at that statement after all he had killed a demi god, he deserved some recognition. "Of course" his common sense said "You had a huge amount of help had you been by yourself you would have been ashes."

"Right" he muttered, in his world he probably was a grandmaster of anything goes, he had surpassed his dad long ago but he was still a decent length behind Happosai. Looking at this skill list and actually seeing how little he knew beyond martial arts, it was certainly thought provoking.

He touched the Martial arts skill, it went into another screen where it listed most of his techniques and moves "Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken (_Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) _was there, Hiryü Shöten Ha (Ascending Dragon Strike) was there and Moko Takabisha. There was more to the listing than that but there were several pages of permanent stat bonuses and growth boosts that he decided to skip them. He knew his own strength and it seemed this world did too.

Though perhaps he should branch out a little maybe learn a bit of magic to see if he could find a reasonable way of defending against it. And medicine heaven knew he needed it enough, granted KI increased body recovery and he had been working on something to see if he could heal others with his KI but that was a work in progress.

"Excuse me" someone said "Ranma turned away from the status bar and it faded back to the icon. The Black haired boy Ren was standing over him, Ranma put one hand against the floor and pushed. His body flew up so that he was standing on his feet "Yes?"

He had to give the kid credit, he did not seem surprised at all at Ranma's strangeness. "I never got your name"

"Ranma, Ranma Saotome"

They shook hands "Ren Amaki" after a moment "You probably were not listening but we were just discussing how we were summoned."

"Ah guess it was pretty weird"

"Ay and it gets stranger, as far as I and the others can tell" the other two nodded at him "We are all from different Japans"

"?What?"

"We all know of different prime ministers, we all played different popular games that neither of us have ever heard of, bands, dates, years, they don't match up."

"So we are all from Japan...but we are all from different japans….why in the hell would they waste so much energy grabbing four different people from four different realities." Ranma mused

They shrugged no clearer on that than he was "I actually wanted to ask you something about your Japan."

"It probably won't help, I don't know who the prime minister is, I dont play video games, I never even had a tv and school was a piece of crap so really all I know is martial arts."

All three eyes got the "Is that an idiot look in them" but he ignored it was long practice, he had seen it in Akane's eyes often enough.

"Hm, I see well at least tell us how you got here."

"Summoning same as you"

"No I mean what happened before then."

Ranma frowned down 'Does that have something to do with it?"

Ren shrugged "I don't know, my childhood friend was attacked by a serial killer, I stopped him but" he grabbed his side "I blinked once, the next thing I knew I was here."

Ranma looked the boy over once again "Is the scar still there?"

Ren nodded lifting his shirt, the scar started just under the ribcage at and going down, "Do you mind if I take a look at it?"

The boy frowned but nodded, upon closer inspection he saw it "Ah, the knife went up and an angle and got the heart, then was ripped down taking some of your insides with it."

*Shrug* "I guess"

"How did you stop him?"

"What?"

"If this Knife was in you, several seconds was all you could have had, there are only so many things you could have done in that time to take him done."

Ren said nothing "You're no martial artist" Ranma said with certainty "You were probably using both hands to struggle against it, you tackled him?"

The boy sighed "I tackled him and fell on the knife,"

"Alright so how did you stop him?"

"I...I, I tore his" For the first time a little bit of green made its way to his face.

Ranma held up a hand "Ok, I understand"

The green faded "Dieing to protect someone else, doing whatever you have to do to protect someone else. I respect that."

Ranma held out his hand again and the Sword hero gave him a strange look before shaking it again.. This time Ranma gave him a real shake which had the boy winching as he pulled away.

"So how did you two end up here?"

Motoyasu scratched the back of his head "I'm here because I got stabbed too,"

They waited for him to explain and he gave an uncomfortable laugh "Um, I got stabbed because one girlfriend found about about my second girlfriend and did not take it too well."

"You were dating two women at the same time?"

"Um, ya."

"...I'm not gonna say you deserved to die over that because you didn't, but that was a dick move."

"Hey" he snapped "I can't help it if the ladies love me"

Moving on, the archer Itsuki gave an uncomfortable laugh "Um, I think I got ran over when a dump truck took a sharp turn."

"So all three of you should be dead?"

They looked at each other and shrugged "Probably, what's your story?"

Hm...how to explain that, I was hit five hundred feet into that air while reading a book and I'm pretty sure I would have survived the landing…

"I was reading a book."

"What?" they all said at the same time.

"I know weird stuff happens to me like that all the time."

Ranma immediately noted the sudden shift in group dynamic, the three of them had found a common bond in how they got here. Whereas he did not, or was there perhaps something more "Earlier you said thats too bad when you saw I had a shield, what did you mean?"

The oldest Motoyasu frowned at the other two "Where I come from there's a game call Emerald Online Shields... people who use shields ] as their main weapon are usually… have great defense but there low attack means that it does not matter the normally die a lot. "

Remembering his status screen Ranma thought that attack was not going to be a problem but if it made these people underestimate him that was fine. He did not expect to fight them but who knew.

"In fact it's a totally pitiful class when pitted against Bosses and even common mobs."

"Why would there be mobs after us?"

"...right never played video games, mobs are groups of monsters people use to grind experience."

"Ah"

A servant walked in "Brave Hero's your meal has been prepared"

"Oh good now that he thought about it he was hungry"

They were led to a great hall where huge amounts of food had been placed on a banquet table. Ranma moved passed the cooks and the, to surprise and seeming shock of all stated piling food on a plate. "Um hero sama" one of the cooks said "You don't have to eat the same food as everyone else we have special food prepared for you."

Well that sounded nice, Ranma followed the man but did not relinquish his plate, after all he was starving.

The meal was good but then again anyone who survived Akane's food was able to eat Raw meat with no health problems so perhaps he was not the best judge in the world.

The evening ended when them stuffed and ready to sleep, "I suppose. Time to hit the sack. We'll begin our journey tomorrow, so let's give it our best."

Everyone nodded at Motoyasu's words and went to bed, the Ranma stayed up a bit longer going over the help section. He quickly found something very important, apparently the legendary weapons could not be used in conjunction with other weapons. It did not apply to his own body but it meant he could not use a sword and shield or any other combination. Very strange, perhaps that was why he was chosen for the shield. His lifestyle had forged him into someone who did not need weapons to cause damage.

Another important and very annoying fact that he found was that according to help section on location the letters of this world were different from the letters of his world. The legendary weapons translated words so there wilders could function but nothing more. Fun, fun, fun to read in his world he had been forced to teach himself. His pa had skipped most of the elementary education in favor of martial arts training. Ranma determined not to get fooled by any other written contracts that had made his life hell learned on his own.

His clothing had been placed on the floor and he reached down to one of the pockets, He had spent a great deal of time in China and out of force of habit had started carrying around a basic Chinese to Japanese guide just to make sure his Pa was not screwing him over when he said a word Ranma did not understand.

The small pocket guide was still there apparently unaffected by the transdimensional warp, the book was not going to be of use here unless. He placed it on the shield still attached to his arm wouldn't you know it worked.

There was a flash of light the book vanished and a voice spoke in his head "Requirements for the Rosetta Shield Unsealed.

Rosetta Shield

True Power Sealed ….. Equipment Bonus: Language Learning 5 …. Special Ability: Language Guide Book.

The shield on his arm had turned into a book, and the thing had flipped so the book was on the inside of his arm not the outside. He opened it and took a look, it started with the alphabet showing what letter here corresponded with the Japanese he was used to. The book had lots of chapters that each seemed to be lessons on how best to learn.

And if he guessed right the shield itself while in this form would help him learn faster. Not a useful battle shield for sure but he had a feeling that it was going to be really important later. Too bad he did not have a comic of that American super hero Captain America, perhaps it would have changed the shield into that.

With a chuckle to himself he willed the shield back to its small shield form and closed his eye. People back home were probably worried about now, but they would have to wait. "A Martial Artists duty is to protect the weak." This world had summoned him to protect them and his own life demanded that he at least try and do so. Besides he needed a vacation anyway, but hopefully this would not be a permanent one, though doubt was in his mind after all the other three were dead in their world. What if he couldn't go back?

He swiped at the air once, no matter, he had work to do and first thing he needed was a night's sleep, yes sleep and then find out how this whole experience system worked.

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well hope you liked it, have a good day, fanboy out.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm having fun with this one right now

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><p>The servants led them to the throne room after they had been fed breakfast, the doors opened to the audience chamber to reveal twelve people standing in front of the king. There were men and women decked in different armors, robes, with hands holding various weaponry.<p>

"Heroes" the king said "As promised yesterday, I have recruited companions who will accompany you on your journey. Apparently, everyone gathered has already decided which hero they wish to follow."

"_It would make more sense to divide them up evenly but then again this was a different world_" Ranma thought.

"Now then future champions, please set forth with the hero you choose."

The warriors moved to their chosen hero, Ren the Sword hero got five, Motoyasu the Spear Hero got 4 and Itsuki the Bow hero got three. Which left him with nothing, "...sigh…." Given what Moroyasu had said about the shield being weak it made sense that most would gravitate to to whom they considered the strongest. But still there should have at least been one or two curious enough to try.

There was an awkward silence as people noticed what had happened and must have been waiting for him to say something. Well what could he say, the people had made it clear that they did not want to fight with him. It was not like he wanted someone forced along with him and fighting alone was not exactly a new way of doing things for himself.

The silence stretched on as he said nothing and tension started to mount, "We-well. Dear me, I would never have thought such a situation could occur" the king stated breaking the silence.

Ranma rolled his eyes "I'm fine"

"...what?"

"I said I'm fine, I'll fight alone it's not problem."

That brought a fresh round of silence, most of the adventures probably afraid they would be forced to pair with him sighed in relief. However Ren spoke up "I would not advise that especially given your weapon."

"Yuusha sama, I'll accompany the shield hero instead."

A women who had rushed over to the spear hero, moved away from the pretty boy and made her way over to him. She was shorter than him with semi long crimson hair braided up with an ornate band. She looked perhaps one or two years older than him and her eyes and voice shown with enthusiasm. In fact it looked and sounded like Nabiki back when she had falsely declared her love for him in such a way that it fooled everyone for a second.

Nabiki, why did this girl make him think of Nabiki?

"Are you sure?" he asked

"It would be unthinkable to leave a newly summoned hero alone in a new world."

Again he felt like he did whenever he spent time with Nabiki, nerves perhaps?

The king asked again if anyone else would join him, no one did "Unfortunately Shield it appears you will have to scout additional talent for yourself, but fret not I will give you a bonus on your monthly war fund."

So he was getting paid for this too, well that was cool a servant distributed four pouches one for each of them "Eight hundred silver coins " he was told.

Well that helped but besides food what was he supposed to do with the rest, "I am Mein Sophia" she told him as the king dismissed them. "Ranma Saotome" he replied holding out his hand.

She hesitated for a moment but shook his hand all the same, "How well do you know the area?" he asked.

"Very well."

"Then show me where I can start fighting."

Her eyes twinkled with amusement "Um shield sama should you not get better equipped first?"

So that was what the money was for, well weapons would be a lost cause since the shield would not allow that. Armor was too heavy and would mess with his movement style, unless. "Can you show me the way?"

"Of course"

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><p>She led him out of the castle and into the surrounding city, the place looked good, cobble stone streets, signs hanging from the doors, running sewers, clean air. It was something right out of a fantasy novel, "This way I'll lead you to the best weapon shop in town."<p>

"The legendary weapon won't allow me to use other weapons" he told her "So that would be pointless."

"Oh, I did not know my apologies"

"No problem"

"Well he does sell armor to so perhaps that?"

"Depends" he answered as she led on.

She led him into a store with wall to wall weapons and armor each looking like well crafted equipment. The shop owner cheerfully greeted them as they entered the shop "Welcome"

He was a big man well muscled, the muscle development looked thicker along his right arm consistent with a blade smith. The man must make everything himself to be that buff.

"Oh, a first time customer. It seems that you came in without knowing what you're looking for."

Ranma shrugged not quite true but he'd roll with it.

"That is why I brought him here" she said with a simle.

"Thanks a lot, Meinu-chan."

"No problem~ It's simply that Oyaji's shop is famous around here."

"Oh ma'am, you're flattering me. But isn't the outfit of your boyfriend over there a bit weird?"

"Were not together" Ranma corrected out of reflex.

The both flinched at how fast he had said that "Sorry" he said "She is helping me prepare for the wave."

"This is the hero of the shield Oyaji" she told the man.

The man looked him up and down like he was examining a blade " A hero?" he looked him over again "You look like you have some training."

Understatement, he nodded "Yes I have some training"

"I see, well what can I do for you?"

Mein looked like she was about to speak but "I'm looking for armor but not the normal kind." he told the smith slash store owner.

"Oh?"

"I don't need heavy armor, I don't want light armor either. The way I fight they would be a detriment, the heavy armor for the weight, the light armor for the lack of flexibility. What I need is clothing that counts as armor if such a thing even exists."

The Oyaji stared at him strangely "I would not suggest such a thing, there are clothing sets with magical properties to resist things better but they are not as good as even the lightest armor and twice as expensive."

"So you do have some"

"Yes but"

"May I see them?"

"...ok"

The man went to the back room and the girl turned to him "Hero sama are you sure, given that your weapon does not have high attack it might not be wise."

She was thinking with this world's logic and he could understand where she was coming from but he knew his own limits. "Trust me" he told her.

The shopkeeper returned with a set of dark clothing, its pants were black with a vest of the same color, the right side of the pants had a length of leather that covered the leg even more and was attached in place by a band of leather swim into the left shoulder. On the right side there was sleeve with a pauldron attached to the shoulder while the left arm was bare form the shoulder down. Two black gloves that covered the forearm were included.

"This was commissioned by a noble with strange tastes in fashion, he died before he could pick it up and Its been in the store room ever since. This has been magicked to increase the user's agility by a small amount, grant slight resistance to slashing, stabbing, and blunt force, it has a small resistance to every element and it can repair damage to a small degree."

Ranma blinked "That's a lot of enchantments"

The shopkeeper nodded "Cloth has the property to take in a lot of enchantments but individually they cannot be pushed very far."

"How much?"

"Now I already got paid to create it so I'll give a discount since It would be good to get rid of it, four hundred silver"

Mein pursed her lips but said nothing as Ranma paid the man, "You can use the changing room over there."

"Thank you Oyaji-san" He said as he entered the room and moved to change his clothing, the outfit felt good, the open sleeve was especially good for his shield arm as it made things easier to get on. He glanced at himself in the small mirror set in the room, this clothing looked as if he had seen it's like before. Something from the cover of a movie called Advent Children, though he could not remember the specifics of the picture and decided that it did not matter.

As he stepped out he noted the annoyed look on Mein's face but it vanished underneath a smile as he stepped out. "You look good Ranma-sama" she told him.

"Ranma is just fine" he told her.

"Ah, as you wish Ranma"

"That looks surprisingly intimidating on you" the shopkeeper said "I hope it serves you well"

They gave their farewells to the shop owner and exited the shop "You are a strange one Ranma" the girl told him as she let the way towards a large gate.

"If you stay with me you'll get used to it, by the way where are we headed?"

"I was thinking Ranma should engage in some mock battles with lower class demons to see your combat potential."

"Fighting huh, that sounds fun."

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><p>The grasslands were wide and vast, over the plane he could make out shapes of people and creatures, some of which were fighting each other. As they walked out one of the strange creatures floated over the ground to us. " It's an Orange balloon Ranma one of the lowest monsters however it is very aggressive."<p>

The thing was a round orange ball with a mouth and eyes and that was pretty much it. He just stared at it as the thing leapt at him mouth open. With and almost nonchalant moment he caught the thing by its face forcing the mouth closed. The thing struggled a little but its strength was no match for his own. Holding it for a moment he shrugged and squeezed, and wouldn't you know they exploded just like a real balloon when popped. "1 exp, 1 copper"

"Money falls out of these things?" Ranma asked incredulously.

Mein shrugged "Of course how else do adventures make their money"

He pressed the balloon corps against the shield and and just like it had done with his translation guide the shield absorbed the skin, and then informed in in a pop up that he needed ten more balloon skins to unlock the Balloon Shield. There was several growling sounds as a whole mess of orange balloon's burst forth from a bush that should not have been able to hold that many.

"Hero sama look out" Mein called just a hint too far away to react immediately.

"_Ki becomes speed, it hardens the bone, strengthens the muscle, from this idea is born the power to strike, from the strike is born __**Katsu Tension Amigurikan"**_

Those thoughts rolled through his head swift as a bolt of thunder, a reminder of what he was capable off, to the eyes of anyone watching he stood up. If any high level adventure happened to be in the area and had a focus on the stat of agi might have been able to see fists blur at impossible speeds.

But to those watching Ranma stood up and nine balloons exploded, Mein was speechless and confused looking around for a mage or someone to explain what had happened. Ranma on the other hand was counting "eight, nine, huh that's convenient" So he got nine more exp points and nine copper and enough balloon skins to unseal the Balloon Shield.

Requirements for the Balloon Shield Unsealed.

True power sealed….Equipment Bonus: Defense Boost…..Special Effect: None

The shield changed from the small child to a rounded orange shield with and almost rubber like quality to the touch. "This is really, really, cool" Ranma said as he looked at his new found shield.

"Hero sama what happened?"

He pursed his lips, it cost him nothing to tell her what happened, but something about this girl reminded him of Nabiki. Something he could not place his finger on, several times he had told Nabiki something thinking it would cost him nothing only to find it used against him later. So he shrugged "Not sure, maybe a wizard did it"

They stayed out there for a few hours longer, killing different kinds of weak balloon's by absorbing several different color balloons he discovered the Balloon Shields true power….it could change color and no it did not do anything to the stats of the shield.

He made a note to find out more about the true power of shields, despite the balloon shields being not very useful he was willing to bet that others would be much better. "Exp gained 32, copper gained 32"

Ranma Lv 2

The level up was the strangest thing he had ever experienced, his stats went up by numbers of 11, 12, and 10 in respective categories. His defence received a 12, his attack an 11, mp/ki 10 along with his hp, intelligence 1, agi 2. He flipped the thing over to girl side and noted that intelligence was now 12, and agi was 11 while attack was 1 and hp was 2.

It went against everything he had ever learned, to increase the bodies prowess was long hard and grueling work, it was not a matter of fighting opponents until a bar told him he reached a new level. But for this world that was exactly what is was, not that he was going to slack off in his training, hell perhaps training would give exp too.

The returned to town and Mein led him to an inn where he bought them rooms and a meal, the girl produced a map "The best way to begin in this country is to travel to here to Raffan where there is a novice dungeon outside its limits."

"Why would we want to go to a dungeon?"

"...because that is where monsters live who give good exp"

"Oh, then where do you put criminals?"

The girl stared at him for a moment "Oh that's what you meant, sorry I forgot, yes there are dungeons for criminals but they are mostly inside of the town or city limits. Anything outside can generally be considered a monster dungeon."

Ranma nodded, more information about this world was good information, one of the waiters delivered them a bottle of wine, Ranma shook his head "No thank you"

Mein gave the man a coin and took the bottle pouring herself a glass "You don't like wine Ranma?"

"Never touched the stuff, I saw what it did to my dad and despite how funny it was to watch I never want to be like that."

"...I see"

That conversation seemed to end the night and Ranma went to his room, he planned to sleep with his new clothing on after all one ever knew. He glanced at the bag of silver coins at his side, "Should he?"

When traveling with his pa one always had to keep it hidden lest the old man sniff it out and steal it in the name of training. So...why not, he slipped out of his window on the second floor and spent several minutes fining stones and pebbles of appropriate weight. Slipping back into his room he emptied the coins into a makeshift sack made of his old clothing and placed the rocks and pebbles in the coin bag covering the top with ten silver coins so that if someone peeked in there it would look real in the dark.

That done he laid down on the bed, frowned and moved to the floor pulling a pillow after him, he then followed his evening ritual of meditation which he was not very good at until he fell asleep. It was a myth that one needed to be cross-legged to mediate, the action was possible from any position and while doing any action, Ranma preferred to do so while lying down.

To his amusement the status screen popped up as he did so "New Skill Meditation: Intermediate. Meditation increases Mp/Ki recovery and encourages healing."

"_That was cool_" he thought as he drifted off to the world of dreams, given what he knew of this world by the time he made it home was going to be able to kick anyone's ass even that evil midget Happosai. Well at least that was if he could get him, surely if there was a way here, there would be a way back but then again the rest of the heroes were dead in their own world so that was also something to consider.

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><p>Some instinct woke him in the night, his Ki rocketed into action burning his veins and mind with light. He sensed magic an instant later, it was a dampening thing clouding his mind and encouraging him to sleep. Well if magic wanted him to sleep that was the last thing Ranma wanted to do. He forced his eyes open as the door to his room was cracked, stilling his body he waited as the light spilled over him.<p>

From his slightly cracked eyes he could see the intruder, "_Mein?_" he thought was he watched the women move silently across the room to the table where his decoy bag of silver waited. She glanced in it and a very Nabiki like smile ran across her face, with conservative motions she placed the coin bag in her belt before gliding over to his fake sleeping from.

"_How to handle this_" Ranma thought, his first instinct was to leap up and start action but, he kinda wanted to see what was going on. This girl had joined him and his instincts had told him something else was going on and now that it was happening he kind of wanted to figure out the whole picture. Well that and she was only stealing ten silver pieces not that she knew it, she stood over his form frowning.

Hands reached down to unbutton his vest and deciding to scare her, he made a noise and turned over. The girl fell down on her ass just barely suppressing a yelp of fear, she stood up looking furiously down at him before clenching her fists and slipping out of the room.

She did not notice when he entered the _**Katsu Tension Amigurikan **_in three motions took the sack of money, got the silver coins, and returned the bag and got back into the same position of sleep even as the air stirred by the momentum caused her to stiffen and look behind herself. Seeing he was still *Asleep* she sighed and closed the door.

Well that was that, she certainly did not want to really fight alongside him that much was clear, either she was going to be gone come morning or pretend not to know anything just like his Pa. So either a thief or a moocher who wanted a free ride with whatever he was doing. That annoyed him but not so much as it would have if his instincts had not been screaming about her the whole time. Besides he had prepared for it and his preparations had worked so nothing needed to be done tonight. With that covered he slipped back into a wary sleep just in case she figured it out and came back.

He woke up the next morning to the door splintering apart as several heavily armed men burst into his room "Hero of the Shield you are under arrest for" whatever else he had been saying was silenced by Ranma's reaction. He had come out of full sleep to fully awake in less than a second, his body reacted without checking in with his mind at the sight of armored men with hard angry faces charging him.

He had surged up from his position on the floor leg shooting out at a diagonal, the full length of his body moving in tandem as his foot caught the knight who was speaking on the chin. The force of the blow lifted him up in the air slammed him against the roof and brought him done to a painful crash landing on the floor.

The second knight surged forward with a cry of rage his sword in the act of being drawn from his sheath. Centering his body Ranma surged forward fist lashing out to strike the center of the armor. Now by any reasonable standard his fist of flesh and blood should have broken on the breastplate of solid metal. But unfortunately for the knight Ranma was not a reasonable existence, the blow dented the metal inward and sent the man flying out the broken doorway and into the wall across the all, the landing was so hard that he did not fall forward but remained stuck in the wall. Two faces in helmets poked their heads around the doorway eyes wide with shock.

"Exp 450"

Ranma lv 8

The two remaining knights gulped "Now" Ranma said easily "What is this about?"

The one to the right gulped "Um, you're under arrest for sexual assault?"

"Really and pray tell who did I do that to?"

"Um the king demanded you brought before him."

"2 plus 2 equals four" Ranma muttered "That little bitch, robbery does not work so she tries false accusations. Or could this have been her plan the whole time. "I did nothing" he told the sweating pair on knights.

"I understanded that but um, um would you please come with us to see the king?"

Ranma shrugged no sense in running away time to find out what was really happening "Sure" he told the knight.

"really?"

"really"

"Um any chance you would come in restraints?"

With casual effort he reached down to the unconscious knight at his feet touching his fingers to the metal. With a squeeze he indented his fingers into the armor and lifted the the man up by finger strength alone. Walking past the pair he did the same to the other knight pulling him out of the wall with his other hand. Each man weighed at least three hundred pounds in full armor and he was holding them up by finger strength alone.

He looked at the talkative knight "I guess not" the knight said answering his own question.

There were several more Knights outside and by the time they reached the castle Ranma was carrying two more over his shoulders. The other five knights had wisely decided that they could not beat him.

Exp 450

Ranma Lv 10

He went to the audience hall and as all eyes turned to him filled with disgust and anger, he dropped the four knights on the ground. Several of the guards in the started in surprise one lowering his spear to the attack position. Ranma tossed on of the KO'ed knights into him knocking him into the floor.

He stalked forward, the king was sitting on the throne his face a mask of rage, his minister with the golden circlet stood to his side his face a neutral mask. The three other hero's stood to the left of the king, Ren looked troubled as he gazed at him, Itsuki was staring at him defiantly. Motoyasu was glaring at him with as much hate as the king was. Mein stood behind him, Ranma noted the money bag at her waist, and the stupid girl probably had not even opened it since last night. As their eyes met hers glinted ever so slightly in triumph before she hid behind Motoyasu in the perfect image of a traumatized child.

But save Ren everyone to the man, competitions of the heroes, nobles, and guards stared at him like he was a demon. "Sup" Ranma asked to the silent court.

"You, you monster" the king yelled "Why is he not in chains?"

Two Guards moved to make it happen both were well dressed, better equipped than the knights sent to arrest him. Not that it mattered that much, The guard striking to his left was faster than his counterpart moving in low his spear snaking out in a swift thrust.

Moving at a diagonal Ranma side stepped that thrust moving towards the guard, the poor man did not have time to do anything else as Ranma grabbed him by his helmet and slammed him to the marble floor. In the next heartbeat he lept into the air performing a full backflip over the guard striking at him from behind. His leg swept out kicking the guard's legs out from under him. As he struck the floor Ranma stomped hard at his breast plate leaving a perfect impression of his foot in the armor.

Exp 640

Ranma Lv 12

"So" he said casually as if nothing had happened turning back to the king "What is this about"

More knights and guards poured into the room weapons drawn but putting themselves between the king and him. The king looked even more livid "How dare you pretend to know nothing you devil."

Mein spoke then "Sniff... Hic... Shield Hero-sama got drunk yesterday... Hic... Th-then he suddenly bursted into my room, giving into his beastly desires while forcing himself on me" She held herself tighter against the shield hero fake tears streaming down her face. "he said 'The night is still young' and violently tore my clothes off."

Motoyasu then comforted the sobbing Mein.

"I-I was horrified... I ran out of the room, screaming for my dear life when Motoyasu-sama appeared and defended me."

"..." Anger, bubbling anger surged through his body but he fought it down "So I chased you after I assaulted you?"

"How dare you talk to her" Motoyasu snarled "I don't care what you think you are, touching a woman who does not want it is criminal.

*Eye Twitch*

"So you didn't steal anything from me Mein" Ranma asked

The girl whimpered and the King spoke his voice like a headsman's axe "Silence you fiend!"

"You brutally committed rape against my dear countryman, villainǃ If you weren't a hero, I would've executed you on the spot!"

More anger built "So she just accuses me with no witness no evidence and I'm guilty" That was not fair but the looks of everyone here told exactly that. Every eye here was not only judging every eye here believed he was guilty and every eye here had been waiting for it, as if he had confirmed something about himself they had already known.

He met the eyes of Mein again and with everyone looking at him and no one at her the tearful child act vanished for an instant and the bitch stuck her tongue out at him.

"Her word is enough, I want to kill you so badly hero, you hurt my child" the king roared

And just like that Ranma lost his anger towards the king, now that the king had said that he could make out some of the kings features in Mein. The was not an enraged king, this was an enraged father. It was still unfair that the man did not question what had happened at all but, from what he had seen of real fathers over his life many of them would have reacted the same way.

Now of course all the anger transferred over to Mein, he looked up and such was his glare that the battle hardened Knights flinched back from it. He wanted to say something insulting, he wanted to hurt her badly. This girl was worse than Nabki, this girl….sigh had done things he was far too used to being done to him.

He was something to be used and tossed aside when inconvenient, he was nothing more to her than that. Well he knew what was going on for the most part, no point in staying when all it would accomplish was making him lash out the guards and knights were only doing their Job.

So he turned and began to walk away from the king, the bitch of a princess and her sap of a hero. "Where do you think you're going?" The king roared.

Ranma did not answer, he did not care, the two guards at the entrance to the audience chamber having got a full showing of just what he could do wisely stepped out of his way.

"Shield!" the king roared "I might not be able to have you killed but I will make sure my entire kingdom knows what you have done!"

Ranma ignored him again and walked out of hearing moving very calmly save for the sparks of Ki dancing around his shield.

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><p>The portcullis slammed shut behind him, which was pretty silly considering they would have to open it again for the other heroes to leave. But the message was clear "The door is shut"<p>

Why the hell did he do this?

He was always meeting people who judged him first, women who used him then tossed him aside, who extorted him for money or bashed him over the head with oversized hammers or declaring marriage or death. Protect the weak that was all he was trying to do with his life, have a little fun, become better at his art and fight for those who would not protect themselves. He was not that hard of a person to figure out, so why the hell was this always happening. What was the point of doing this, the air around him seemed to quiver with violence as those thoughts tuned in on themselves.

That was when he heard a cry, he looked as a small child dashed from a darkened alley her hair was a dark brown and ran wild around her shoulders down her back and over her chest. Above her head two raccoon like ears poked out and out from under a dirty ratty shirt she wore for clothing a tail of the same color showed.

There were broken chains connected to her ankles and wrists, scratches, marks and dirt over her exposed face and arms. She was clutching some sort of glass casing in her arms and her face was pale with exhaustion. Across her back was a long bloody cut a fresh whip mark that had elicited the cry that had drawn his attention.

The child tripped her bare feet bloodied from the rough road of the town gave out on her and she fell forward. A man followed from the alley a moment later, he was wearing a laborers outfit, looked annoyed more than anything else and had a long black whip pulled back for another strike. The child held up the glass casing in front of her like a shield and the man pulled back for a second only to swing in at an angle that would avoid the case.

Both the child and he were surprised when a hand caught the whip, Ranma now stood in between them his right arm raised the end of the whip caught in it. His eyes were deadly calm as he looked upon the man "I really should thank you" he told him gently through the sparks of Ki dancing in his shield showed his true emotions. "For a moment there I was questioning my whole existence. I forgot for a moment exactly why I do what I do."

"Th-that demi human is a slave, she is my master's property if you interfere with this than you will be defying the law."

"Well," Ranma said his voice cracking "I have good news for you"

The man had the good sense to start sweating in fear at that voice "What's that?"

"You day at work ends right now"

"What do you" Ranma did not let him finish as he kicked out catching the man right in the tentacles. He was very careful not to kill with the blow but nevertheless that man's ancestors would be sore for weeks on end. A whimpering sound escaped his throat as his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell backwards.

Turning away from him he went to the child, the poor thing was trembling eyes wide with terror. But that quickly went away as she began coughing, and it sounded bad, it was a harsh unhealthy cough that grated the ears.

He was at her side in an instinct, scooping her up in his arms, "You" he shouted at a passerby "Where is the doctor!"

The man looked at the child in arms then at him, made a face of disgust and turned away, "You son of a bitch" Ranma swore.

Looked around he saw that everyone had vacated the street, what the fuck was wrong with this place. He felt something wet on his arm and noticed blood starting to be coughed up from the child. He was no doctor but he knew that was really bad, he ran through town but every plea for help was ignored. Running out of options he kicked in the door to the weapons shop, there were people in it but he did not care.

Oyaji looked up startled from his counter "What the"

"I need help" Ranma screamed at him.

He took one look at the child and shouted "Shops closed everyone out." motioning Ranma up he placed the child on the counter. More blood came out staining her clothing "She needs a doctor but no one will tell me where one is."

"What" the weapon maker yelled.

"Where is"

The child coughed again but something was different the child arched and the breach was strangled her eyes going wide. There was no time, it was too late to get a doctor, too late for normal medical help, so he did the only thing he could.

To heal with ki was not a new thing, martial artists in his world used it all time to recover from injuries that would have crippled normal people. Using Ki like that was as natural as breathing and the higher ki one had the better they healed.

But healing someone else with your ki was a different matter, with a few rare exceptions like twin's ki was not compatible between people. That was part of the reason why it could hurt so much when used as a weapon. Not only was the energy hitting you but your body was rejecting the foreign ki as well. So for most ki users healing others was beyond their reach, there were a few masters in his world who could use Ki to heal others but they kept their secrets closely guarded.

He had spent a great deal of his free time experimenting, mostly with plants in an effort to create an ability that could heal others. It had taken him months to diligent and often times fruitless effort until at last he had made his life force match that of the plants he had been using. Once he matched that he had been able to affect and heal damage done to them, now the problem he faced was how to transfer that skill to living thinking beings. Due to the immense danger a foreign ki could cause he had never tried it on a person.

But now if he did nothing someone was going to die, and there was no way in heaven or hell that he would let that come to pass without a fight. He shut his mouth and stepped close to the child, he placed a hand on her heart the organ that spread blood and thus ki throughout the body. He placed a hand on her stomach, the sea of Ki as it was sometimes called. The place where the body transformed food into energy and thus food into ki.

He could not allow thoughts to interfere, he let instinct take over focusing on the one thought that he would allow. His Ki was going to save her, it was not going to hurt her, it could not, it simply was not possible.

His hands lit with a blinding light and he focused the force of his life, who and what he was into the child. The instant his ki touched hers he let his instinct to the rest, there was a click somewhere in mind. His ki flared to an even greater brilliance, the shield changed. He felt the weapon shift.

"Requirements for the Reiki Shield have been unsealed.

True Power Unsealed: Ki Molding, Equipment bonus: Medicine 3, Special Ability: None

The balloon shield morphed, becoming more rectangular and smaller perhaps a foot by a foot across, the kanji for the words "Life, Hope, Ki, and Light" were written one word for each four corners.

As the shield came into being Ranma's ki molded itself of his own accord matching the child in an instant. She took in a startled breath as life flooded her lungs the source of the infirmary, somehow Ranma knew that. He knew that her lungs were weaker than they should have been, he knew that her escape from the slaver had overtaxed her body.

What he also knew was that he was not going to let it happen ever again, he let the ability drain his body. His mp bar appeared and started going down at a steady rate as he ki destroyed and rebuilt the damage that years of illness had done to this child. Such a disease, it was not like an injury, it took so much more to heal. He held like that for a full minute, his mp was nearing zero and the healing was only half way through, well screw that.

The mp went to zero and with an effort of will he began to use his hp to power the healing. Losing mp felt draining losing heath like this felt agonizing, horrible pain the like he had felt only as a small child in a pit of cats or fighting against the flames of the Phoenix god Saffron. But that pain did not matter this time, he was allowing it to happen "A martial artist protects the weak," That was his life and that was all that mattered, his eyes became blurry as the bar went below one hundred, at the point where it reached thirty he knew he was done. He let go of the power and pitched over to the side fading into blackness.

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For those who read the light novel or the manga I hope you can understand why I changed some things, for the most part because I cant see Ranma trying to get a slave under any circumstance.

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Also I know there is more to the King's actions than simple father like anger, but Ranma does not know that. He simple based his own assumptions and expediences.

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Besides that I hope you have a good day, Fanboy out.


	3. Chapter 3

Ranma of the Shield Chapter 3

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Still having fun with writing this, enjoy.

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><p>It was not every day he fought his way out of sleep with warmth beside him, usually that meant Shampoo had snuck in and Akane was going to give him a flying lesson when he woke up. But no that couldn't happen, he was not there anymore.<p>

He opened his eyes looking around a dimly lit room he did not recognize, there was the bare necessities and he thought he could hear the sounds of a forge nearby. Light sure breathing reached his ears and he looked to his side, the girl was there. Her small arms were clutching him tightly, her body clenched as if she was used to sleeping in smaller spaces.

It had worked, thank god, he had done it or rather the shield had become exactly what he needed it. The girl whimpered and on reflex he touched her head gently, ever so gently rubbing back and forth. The whimpering stopped and, and he thought he could make out voices.

"What do you think?"

"I, I don't know what to think from what you told me her lungs must have been damaged."

Oyaji was speaking to someone but who?

"That boy did something I've never seen before and I was partied with you once."

The other man was quiet for a moment "I have no idea what he did to her"

"He healed her"

"Not in the way we know it."

The shopkeeper made a confused sound "Huh?"

"Healing magic will repair injury, it can slow disease and heal that damage done by it, but do you know what always remains behind?"

"What?"

"Marks, scars, signs, something to indicate that the area has been healed, but there was nothing. I used my most powerful scan spell and saw nothing but healthy tissue, if anything the boy had more damage than the girl."

"Did you figure out where that came from?"

"...The only thing that makes sense is not possible."

"But you said it makes sense."

"Well yes but."

"So what is it?"

"That boy somehow turned his own life, his own HP into mana."

"I have never heard of that before"

"That is because not only is the art forbidden, the knowledge of how to do such a thing has been lost of centuries. I only know about it because I like to study history, not because of my schooling."

"Why was such a thing forbidden?"

"Because of the damage it causes the body, the strain it puts on the mind and most of all because it is the precursor to something darker."

"I don't understand"

The other man sighed "The school of thought behind it is that once you figure out how to turn your own life into power it would not be a stretch to turn others life's into power."

Ranma blinked, that was a terrifying thought, granted the way he had healed was far different from the magic these people seemed to practice.

"If I might ask" the strange man said.

"Yes?"

"You heard the proclamation of the king, you have heard of this deeds. Why help the shield? For all you know he could have been the cause of the girl's ills."

Anger flared but faded as Oyaji answered calmly "Simple really, I don't believe them."

"But the princess herself"

"I know the princesses, and that is one of the several reasons why I don't think he did it."

"Several?"

"From what you told me, that boy nearly burned his life out to save a child, what kind of monster does that?"

"...*Sigh*... I should be going now, the boy was recovering fast and I would not be surprised if he awakens soon."

"Thank you for coming over Tarth"

"Think nothing of it, I still owe you a lot Iron Adventurer."

Oyaji laughed "Not as much as I owe you Berserk Healer"

Their voice faded as they moved further away, well at least someone was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Slowly he sat up gratified to find no pain at his actions, the motion however stirred the girl. Her eyes blinked open, they were brown to the point of almost red. Her breathing stayed steady as she held onto his side.

What should he say? He was very good at saving people but afterwards he seemed to always mess it up. "Hey" he decided on that word was harmless enough.

Her eyes looked down "Thank you" she whispered.

Almost by itself his hand went back to her head "It's what I do"

Looking to the side he noted his clothing lying on one of the chairs and got out of the bed, the girl watched him as he got his stuff back into place. "Why" she asked.

That word had so many implications, why save her, why heal her, why step in at all?

"Because I am a martial artist and that is my duty"

Her eyes lifted back up and met his, how in the world could eyes seem to be that big "Are you going to leave me?"

Well what the hell kind of question was that? "Um, where are you parents?"

"Dead" she whispered tears forming "Th-They were killed by monsters"

Ouch that stung, stung bad. "Look what I am doing is not going to be safe, do you have any relatives? Anyone to take you in?"

"No, I'm just a demi human slave"

"...great…."

"Sad Child has entered your party" the status window told him.

"What's your name?"

"...Raphtalia"

"I'm Ranma Saotome"

The status window changed "Raphtalia has joined your party"

Well it was not like he was not used to baggage in a fight, though hopefully this one did not have a hammer to smack him with. There was a rag next to a bowl filled with water Ranma picked up both and brought them over to the bed. "You should get cleaned, I'll be right outside."

"You're not going to leave me?" she asked again

"Of course not"

He opened the door and stepped out, the back of the weapons shop came into view and a building with a forge stood on the right. Oyaji was on his way over and pulled up at the sight of him "Damn kid back to 100% already?"

"I'm used to worse"

"Worse than turning yourself into a lifeless husk?"

Ranma pulled up his shit and showed the man a blotch of scars where a Phoenix god's flames had burned him "So far nothing has quite equaled this, though turning life into mana was agonizing."

Oyaji shook his head "Who's the girl? She would not stop struggling until I let her sleep next to you."

Ranma shrugged "I don't know I think someone was keeping her as a slave, oh that reminds me She's awake and I have her cleaning herself up with that rag and bowl of water, sorry I didn't ask if i could use it."

"No, that's fine she didn't want anyone to touch her so I left it there for that purpose."

"Ok back on track, so there is slavery in this country?" Ranma spoke normally but there was a knife edge to his voice.

"Ya but for the most part its monsters who are caught, tamed and used as party members for those who can afford them. Slavery of humans has long been outlawed in this kingdom but demi humans...well its not to uncommon for there to be one or two among the slave traders."

"I see"

"What will you do with her?"

Ranma sighed "Her parents are dead and she does not know anyone that can take her in, and I'm reasonably sure if she was left here the trader that had her will come back."

"A wise assumption"

"So I guess she's coming with me"

"You made her a party member?"

"I don't plan on having her fight" He said quickly "But I can't leave her like this."

"You don't do things half way do you Hero?"

"Not true I often as I would like"

"Well it's better that you have a beastman child with you rather than human."

Ranma blinked "Why is that?"

"Hm?" the shopkeeper muttered "Oh nothing just the musings of an ex adventure"

'...ok"

The door opened the Raphtalia stepped out her face washed clean of the dirt and grim, to his relief the ki healing he had done on her closed the many minor cuts and bruises she had on her body before.

Oyaji smiled kindly and dropped to one knee "Good to see you doing well"

The girl stepped behind Ranma looking uncertain "Its ok" Ranma told her.

The looked up at him and nodded slowly moving out from behind him "Th-thank you for helping me, I-I'm sorry I scratched you."

"Ha" the old man burst out "No problem, I should have known you would have woken up confused, honest mistake."

They made their way back to the shop "If you're going to take her with you boy then she needs some better clothing and a weapon."

"But I'm not"

He held up his and stalling the question "I know what you want, but you never know better to be prepared than not right?"

"...very true, a lot of things in his life could have been different if he had followed that philosophy."

"You'll need this and this and this" the old man was saying to himself grabbing clothing the proper size, a cape." he pointed her over to the long knives "Find one that feels comfortable"

Ranma started pulling out some silver but the Oyaji waved his hand dismissively "On the house, I had every hero party come through my shop yesterday I can afford to be generous."

Those were words he had never heard in his life, his dad would never say something like that. Nabki, the old hag, the perverted troll. No one in his life would have said that but this one said it so easily "_I wonder what it would have been like to have this man as a father" _

He shook his head where had that thought come from, "Thank you so much" he honestly told the man "For everything, especially not judging me."

"Dont get me wrong kid I'm not perfect when I heard the news I did wonder if it might be true, but after seeing what you did for her. Well thats not something just anyone would do."

That brought out a smirk on Ranma's face "Thank you then for judging me according to my real actions."

Raphtalia got dressed in the changing room and when she came out looked even more adorable than she already had.

She looked up at him questing for approval, "That looks good" he told her, there was a twinge in his stomach and he realized that he had not eaten since his dinner at the inn two nights before. "You hungry?"

At those words her stomach made and audible noise "Right what was I thinking kids are always hungry."

He held up his fist to Oyaji who raised an eyebrow in response "In my world people who respect each other sometimes bump fists" he explained.

"Ah, ok then" they bumped firsts and Ranma said his farewells.

* * *

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><p>They got a lot of looks as they got on to the main street, women moved quickly to get out of his way and several of the men gave speculative looks as Raphtalia. So that was why they had a child slave for sale, well he was now pissed off.<p>

Raphtalia stopped in front of a business which judging by the smells was a restaurant of some sort, well that worked.

The server gave them a displeased look as she led them to a table, Ranma noted the envious look Raphtalia was giving towards another kid's lunch and some of the anger he was feeling dissipated this child was too cute, it should have been a weapon in her inventory.

He ordered them food, himself taking the cheapest thing on the menu after all he didn't really care food was food. However he ordered Raphtalia the kiddie meal, at first she seemed confused but with some encouragement. While they were eating and ignoring the stares he checked his stats, he had gone up quite a few levels yesterday. Those knights must have been at a much higher one than his current, there bad luck he was someone who didn't follow the rules of power this world seemed to have in place.

No that was not the right way to say it, rather the world had started him at the beginning and did not seem to care his power far exceeded a simple lv 1.

His starts had shot up even higher and for the most part it was the same as his first level up, defense got the highest, he would really have to see how getting hit would affect him now. Attack, HP,MP, where generally the same save for the fact that the switched around the numbers 12,11, and 10 a little. Intelligence and agility were progressing slowly but if he flipped genders they were growing extremely fast. Something he noted is that while the difference in strength and life was large in his girl from his defense was the same. That must have been the shields influence.

He finished the meal and changed his shield to the Rosetta Shield, Raphtalia was too focused on the small flag atop her rice mounted to pay attention. He waited patiently reading and doing lessons the book was giving him while Raphtalia enjoyed her food. No skin of his nose to let a child be happy.

Just as she was about to be finished he morphed the shield back to its Balloon form, "Ok I'm gonna go visit the forest outside of town, if you want I can probably get Oyaji to watch you until I get back.

"No!" she said loudly grabbing his side.

"But there will be monsters"

"NO!" she said again louder.

"Ok, ok let's get moving then."

The exited the town and several orange balloons floated close, to a look and Ranma and turned around floating away. "They learn" Ranma muttered.

Together they followed the road uncontested until they entered the thickly covered forest, almost at once several red balloons a color he had never seen before on them attack. Raphtalia yelped in fear as one leapt for her. Ranma backhanded it into a tree so hard it popped. Another had been going for him but a single kick killed it as well.

Raphtalia looked a little pale but it was over now, he picked up the remnants of the balloons. Something jumped at him from behind and Ranma decided to let it hit him, see what his defense could do.

At least that was what he planned, "Look out!" the child cried panicked, when he did not move she did. With speed that would not have been possible with a human child she leapt at the monster hitting with the weight of her small body driving her knife deep. *Pop* went the balloon.

"Exp 13"

"Companion exp 9"

She stood up holding the knife in both hands shaking and trembling her breath ragged. Gently Ranma pushed the knife to a safer angle and put his arm around her. No need to say he had never been in any danger that was not what she needed to hear. "Thank you Raphtalia"

Her breathing steadied, "I, I did it"

"Yes you did and it was very impressive but you don't need to fight, I got this covered."

She looked at her knife cute face contorted in thought, while she was thinking he got together the corpses of red balloons and absorbed them.

Red Small Shield

True power sealed … Equipment Bonus: 4 Defensive Power

Well that was larger than his current shield so with and effort of will he changed to its new form. Raphtalia stared at it in shock "Ranma sama who are you?"

"Its Ranma and I guess I'm the hero of the shield"

"The legendary hero?"

"I guess"

"I'm gonna do a bit more fighting, see if I can get any new shields so stay close."

"Yes Ranma"

The next encounter was with three balloons that burst onto the path, the one going straight for him died on the first hit, the one charging in on his right was shield bashed so hard its corpse stuck to the shield. Raphtalia tried to get the third one surging forward, the red balloon weaved to the side and she missed falling to the ground.

She let out a cry of fear before Ranma caught the Red balloon and held it off to one side not killing it yet. The thing struggled a little but its own strength was no match "Sorry" she murmured as she got to her feet.

"Raphtalia you don't have to do this, you're a kid its fine to depend on others."

"Bu-But I want to help."

He could have said I don't need your help but maybe Akane's hammers to the head were having a good side effect since he did not blurt that out. So instead he said "Fine but look if you gona try and fight these things your gona have to do it right."

"Um"

"Watch" he threw the balloon back five feet and it charged, Ranma waited until it attacked avoided it and caught it. "Since you small right now any real attempt at an attack like you are trying to do is going to put you off balance. So do what I just did, avoid that attack then strike."

He let it go and the kid yelped as it dashed at the weaker of the two biting for all it was worth. He was ready to intervene if it looked like it might actually hit and that turned out to be a good thing. She avoided its first attack but lost her footing, Ranma caught the Red Balloon again "Good try but watch your footwork, keep calm I won't let it touch you."

He released it again this time she waited, the fear was still there but it was overshone by her trust in him. The Balloon surged forward and she stepped to the side avoiding that attack, with with a quick movement she thrust her dagger into the balloon with both hands. *Pop*

Exp Ranma 1

Exp Raphtalia 6

"See, when your opponent attacks and is not prepared to defend a counter attack is devastating. But you did very well, I did not pick it up so fast."

She looked away from him shyly "Th-thank you."

"Alright let's continue"

The next monster was stranger than the Balloons, it was a white, moving mushroom. It had sharp slanted eyes, and was roughly the size of a human head. There was only one of them and Raphtalia moved forward slowly. "_Well so much for not using her to fight, but at least I'm not forcing her to fight." _ The thing the shield said was Roux Mush growled as it charged, she waited until it swung its small arm at her and avoided the blow burning down her dagger in an overhead slash and the Mush pitched over dead from the blow.

Exp Ranma 1

Exp Raphtalia 6 Lv Up

Well that was strange, it took him thirty five exp to lvl up the first time not twenty three, but still that meant even children could grow in power at rates that would have made his father jealous. "Good Job" he told her.

She beamed at up at him, and well that was that. As it turned out there were several different colored Mush which he helped Raphtalia kill. It ended up that he got several new shields out of the deal.

Mush Shield

True power sealed … Equipment bonus: Plant Identification 1

Blue Mush Shield

True power sealed … Equipment bonus: Simple Compounding Recipes 1

Green Mush Shield

True power sealed … Equipment bonus: Apprentice's Compounding

Taken advantage of the help option, he realized that all these things were for the medicine skill, he could now instantly identify a limited number of plants with medicinal purposes. He had some recipes to tell him what he needed and to top it all off he somehow now knew just how to mix, crush, cut and use the plants to make the medicine work.

Welp that did it, this shield was even more freaking awesome than he realized. They stopped as the sky grew dark Raphtalia had gained three more levels making her LV 5 and already Ranma could see the imminence difference in movement and strength from this morning.

He gazed at her thoughtfully as they ate a meal he had thrown into a pot and boiled down to a very bland tasting but filling stew. She noted his gaze after a while and began to shift uncomfortably, "D-did I do something wrong Ranma?" she finally asked.

"No, I'm just thinking"

"What about?"

"You, are you sure you want to fight?"

Her face got the determined look only children could make "Yes"

"Why?"

"Because I want to help you."

"But you could get hurt, monsters like the ones that took you parents could come at any time, this is very dangerous."

There it was, fear appeared in her eyes and she started shaking "I want to fight she said again"

"Why"

"I want to"

"Why!" he said louder.

"Because I don't what to watch!" she screamed and burst into tears.

Very carefully Ranma went over to her and wrapped his arms around her "I don't want to watch" she whimpered "My parents died, they died and I could do nothing."

They were quiet for a little bit as Ranma comforted her "Its ok, I understand If that is your reason than I will show you the proper path."

"What?" she asked.

"I will show how to become strong, and it will be the hardest experience for your life. It will be exhausting, it will be painful, and it will be hard. But if you want it I will show you the path to power."

"I want it" she whispered "I want that more than anything."

"ok" he said simply " Your training begins tomorrow apprentice."

"Ranma-san?"

"Ranma is just fine"

"Are you... fighting against that disaster? The one where the monsters come from?"

"A Martial Artist protects the weak that is my life, it has been my only constant," he stroked her hair gently his eyes distant "Every world has its share of assholes and wretched people but I'll protect them too."

"Why?"

"Because if I didn't then I would be just as bad as them, actually no I'd be worse."

He smiled down at her "And of course there are people like you, you're are a lot easier to fight for."

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><p>The next two weeks were possibly the worst of Raphtalia's life, Ranma made sure of that. As it turned out training could grant you exp. In fact the status window made a note that she was his apprentice now and gave her an exp bonus while he was training her. By the end of those two weeks he was getting a feel for just how far he could push her. Since she was his apprentice he could now see her stats, he was starting to be able to see the numbers and get a very close guess at how much she lift, how long he could make her run, ect. Training did not increase individual attributes unless you counted the boosts her apprentice level skill in martial arts gave her.<p>

He ran her ragged, and in between training her he studied the Rosetta Shield and tried his hand at medicine. He had expected some complaints from her but so far had received none. Which was highly impressive considering he had never shut up about his complaints to his pa at her age.

The exercise was a good thing for her, it had taken him a while to realize it but just because the strength stat said one thing, it was quite another to get the full use out of it. By his methods she was able to reach the full limits of her physical stats and understand her own limits as well.

Being on the other end of the teaching spectrum was a strange experience, he was starting to almost be grateful to his pa for making all those mistakes with him. Now he knew what to avoid with Raphtalia.

Oh yes and during this time Ranma was able to unseal quite a few more shields, they had met a new kind of monster that came in several colors and from its remains he had gotten.

Requirement for Egg Shield has been unsealed

Egg Shield

True power sealed … Equipment bonus: Culinary 1

Requirement for Blue Egg Shield has been unsealed.

Blue Egg Shield

True power sealed … Equipment bonus: Judgement 1

Requirement for Sky Egg Shield has been unsealed.

Sky Egg Shield

True power sealed … Equipment bonus: Beginner Cooking Recipes

So their meals had taken a considerable jump in taste when he had made them, also his medical skills had increased, he had been able to create, the Heal pill which helped with wounds when applied, and when absorbed into the shield, _that's right the thing could absorb medicine to_, it had unsealed the shields called.

Petit Medicine Shield

True power sealed … Equipment bonus: Raises Medicine's Effects.

Petit Poison Shield

True power sealed … Equipment bonus: Poison Resistance (Small)

Soon after he had managed to create a Nutritional supplement pill of low quality and a Recovery Potion which helped with testing illnesses. It probably would have been helpful to Raphtalia if he hadn't practically rebuilt her lungs with his Ki healing.

But anyway absorbing them into the shield gave him the

Calorie Shield

True power sealed … Equipment Bonus: Stamina Boost (Small)

Energy Shield

True power sealed … Equipment Bonus: SP Boost (Small)

Energic Shield

True power sealed … Equipment Bonus: Stamina Consumption Decrease (Small)

All these stat bonuses too bad they the only worked when he was holding them, well that was what was happening. Oh, right three other important things had happened, one it seemed that Raphtalia could only avoid nightmares if she was holding on to him while she was sleeping. And after several night attacks by monsters attracted to her cries he decided to just get used to it and stop expecting a hammer to attack him.

Two he found out what that glass case she had kept was that conversation had gone like this, "So Raphtalia what is that case you have?"

The girl moved her hand over it gently pulling back a black cloth she has placed over it, inside was a small egg. "When I escaped I grabbed the thing they had set to the side earlier, they did not want to damage it so I used it as a shield to get away.

"Whats in the egg?"

"A monster baby I think"

"...say wa?"

"From what," she shivered "From what the bad man said, some adventures like to raise monsters from the egg rather than buy them as full grown pets. He says it makes them more loyal to the owner."

Well now he knew he had a baby monster to watch out for, he said nothing to Raphtalia about throwing it away. She seemed attached to it, it was something had helped her to freedom, so he hoped whatever hatched from it would be friendly.

The final thing that happened over those two weeks was his penchant for chaotic things returned with a vengeance. It has started when they had been practicing how to attack an opponent while not opening yourself up too much.

That was when a creature who had no business being in this area wandered across them, imagine a Rhino, but the Rhino has a horn three feet long with a razor sharp point. Now imagine most of its skin was made of a rock like material, now to finish the image it's pissed off as all hell.

Rhinogore the shield told him unhelpfully, the damn thing was lv 20, which made no sense give this area was home to lv 3 Mush. Well to make a short story even shorter knowing he had no time to waste and not trusting his fist to end it quick enough to guarantee Raphtalia's safety the battle had went something like this.

Grabbing the child in one arm he leapt straight into the air, nearly twenty feet straight over the things charge. Angrily snorting his disapproval the Rhinogore had placed itself where they would and intent of getting them.

It had not expected what came next, holding his hand up he let his confidence sing along his body. Ki ignited at the tip of his shield and gathered into a ball, pointed it down he had howled "Moko Takabisha" The shield changed something about it, it was tighter than it should have been, stronger than the Ki he had put into it. The ball of ki hit the thing right along its back and there was a shattering sound as a blast of light washed over them.

Exp Ranma 600

Exp Raphtalia 300

Ranma LV 18

Raphtalia Lv 10

5 gold

When it had cleared the Rhinogore was dead, Raphtalia just started at him in awe as he began to harvest the thing.

Requirements for Stone Hide Shield unsealed

Stone Hide Shield

True Power unsealed: Damage Reduction /1, Equipment Bonus: Damage Reduction /1 Defense Bonus 7, Bonus Skill: Hide of the Ancestors (Once a day skill that grants a plus /10 Damage reduction to the user"

Requirements for Sword Horn Shield unsealed.

Sword Horn Shield

True Power Unsealed: Piercing Resistance 5, Equipment Bonus: Attack 5, Bonus Skill "Aura of the Raging Ancestors Damage 3/Enemy debuff damage 3 in a thirty foot area centered around the user." (Aura stacks with attack bonus of the Sword Horn Shield)

The Stone Hide Shield was a circular thing nearly three feet across, the front was covered in the rock like skin similar to the Rhinogore which the back was cushioned against his arm by a soft material.

The Sword Horn Shield was awesome, his first shield with attack properties. Imagine his first shield the small shield. It was about the same shape and size but protruding to either side of the shield tip were foot long needle sharp horns about two inches at the base. The shield placed as it was up near his hand made it a perfect punching tool.

He decided that the Sword Horn Shield was going to be a trump card and switched it to the Stone Hide Shield.

That was the first chaotic incident, the second one turned out to be even more significant than the first. They were hunting balloons together when they spotted a red balloon twice the size of the others. Raphtalia had dashed up to it and stabbed it, and that was when they found out why it was twice the size of the others. The damn thing had been drinking water, drinking enough to swell to that size. When Raphtalia stabbed it water had exploded every direction and He became a she for the first time in this world.

Raphtalia had turned to apologize but just stood there her mouth agape Ranma sighed shaking her head to rid it of the water. The child looked from the shield to Ranma's new red hair and back again utter confusion on her face.

"um" she muttered "Look I know this is weird but there is an illogical explanation for this...wait magic is more common in this world perhaps a curse is a logical explanation for this?"

"Ra-Ranma?"

*Sigh* "ya its me see the shield" Ranma waved it in front of the child.

"Bu-Bu-But you're a girl?"

"Ya that sometimes happens"

"...Wa?"

Several mushes had ambushed them in that moment and Ranma blurred into action, to Raphtalia it looked like a blur of movement and three afterimages of Ranma punching all three mushes at nearly the same time. *poof*poof*poof* went the mushes.

"Hm speed really is greatly increased" She mused.

Raphtalia still just stood there mouth opening and closing like a fish "Look just hold on a moment." she told her.

Swiftly she made a small fire and set a cup of water to boil, then dumping it over her head the manly equipment returned and she became a he. "See, boy again"

That served to confuse her even more so he ended training early that day, sat her down, got her fed and calmed. Then told her the story of his curse and the mechanism that triggered it, it took several transformations right in front of her eyes and letting her feel around to for her to be sure that it was true.

And a final note to those weeks of training Raphtalia grew, grew a lot, like three and a half feet in height. No he was not kidding, she had gone from jailbait cute to outright gorgeous in less than three days. Her hair went down to her waist, her ears were much more prominent, as had her chest. She was taller than he was and had a killer smile that would turn any head.

Sometimes it was hard to remember she was only ten, that body belonged to an adult and it was one the same level of as Kasumi the only one of the Tendo sisters that could be called beautiful. Where Nabki had a sort of cold charm, and Akane was tomboyish cute, Kasumi shown forth as a sweet flower among that family. He could say without a doubt that Raphtalia was equal or even greater in terms of looks than Kasumi.

Which made it all the more weird since she was freaking ten, the only answer she had given him about the sudden change was that leveling caused the beastman's body to accelerate growth. She swore to him that it did not affect her mind but he was not so sure, there was a sneaking suspicion in his mind that she only told him her mind was like a child because she liked sleeping next to him. She might had deduced correctly that if he was sure she was not a child there was no way he would let her sleep while hugging him.

But he was not sure and for all he knew she was telling the truth so for until circumstances dictated otherwise he would let the sleeping arrangements fall where they may. Besides she still had nightmares and hearing a girl screaming in terror set off his protective instincts harder than just about everything.

So at the end of those two weeks Raphtalia broke her knife, they ran out of seasoning for food, and had managed to get Raphtalia up two more levels. So it was time to return to town and get resupplied, he also had questions about the wave. His system help bar told him what it was but not how and when he was going to fight it. The damn thing just said "Check the Dragon Hour Glass"

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><p>Nothing really changed in the castle town as they arrived, he still got the looks of fear and disgust from the town's people, apparently the king had been working hard to keep it that way. But in the end he didn't care, people had judged him before and would so again.<p>

Besides there was at least one person happy to see him "Hey boyo" Oyaji called as Ranma and Raphtalia store. "I thought you two would be in Raffan by now" The man pulled up at seeing Raphtalia in her shiny new adult body.

But unlike Ranma the man seemed to know exactly what was going on "You have become quite the looker" He told Raphtalia.

The girl flushed a little "Thank you"

"So again, why are you here?

With an embarrassed expression and held up the broken knife "Ah got some use out of it did ya?"

Ranma looked away from the man "She ended up fighting anyway"

"I thought as much, why do you think I gave her that."

"Well we are here for another weapon," Ranma glanced again at Raphtalia "A sword this time I think, one that is highly durable."

Oyaji nodded "That is a reasonable upgrade."

He walked out from behind the counter to get a closer look at the girl "Hm, both right and left arms are equally strong, are you ambidextrous?"

"No she's right handed, I just didn't let the muscle growth become lopsided."

"Oh, you're training her?"

Ranma nodded "I am a martial artist so I know a thing or two about fighting."

"Know anything about swords?"

"Mostly Katana but I did learn about about longswords, I am an established staff fighter, a decent bow shot, and knowledgeable in several other forms of weaponry including throwing axes….don't ask where I learned that."

*blink*blink* "What martial art did you learn"

The only answer Oyaji got was a smirk and the words "Anything goes"

"Come to think of it" Ranma said "Do you have any Katana?"

"You're asking me If I have a weapon that is considered illegal to even showcase outside the eastern country of its origin?"

"Ya pretty much"

"...how much silver do you have?"

"Two hundred and eight two copper, three hundred and ninety five silver and five gold pieces"

*blink* blink* "I'll be right back" The shopkeeper vanished back into his storeroom. They waited and heard some crashing sounds and boxes being moved. Oyaji returned holding the weapon, the Katana was forty inches long. It's hilt was eleven inches and engraved with a dragon on the right side and a phoenix on the other the blade was twenty nine inches in length and where the hilt and blade connected there was a white lotus flower guard.

The steel was an inky black which almost seemed to absorb light itself, perhaps it was his imagination but as the shopkeeper sheathed the weapon into a rather simple looking wooden sheath the room got brighter.

"Twelve years ago I and my party were exploring an underwater shipwreck, we ended up running into a leviathan and had to flee. This and two jet black gemstones were the only things we recovered." He ran his hand along the sheath "It took me forever to restore this thing to fighting condition and I tried using this but never could make it effective. However if you want this weapon it's going to eight hundred silver and I am pretty sure I could sell this to collectors for at least eight times that much."

Ranma frowned "Why done you do that? I know a girl who would kill for that kind of money."

The man frowned a bit looking at the blade "This weapon is made for combat, it's not an ornament or something to be put away in a case for eternity." His eyes went distinct "It's made for combat and it would be a disservice to do otherwise."

"You don't just make weapons to see them do you?"

"No" an edge came into his voice "I make them to save the lives of the ones who buy them."

It sounded like there was a painful story behind those words but Ranma was pretty sure now was not the time. Looking at the Katana he nodded and handed over the five gold coins, each worth one hundred silver, then he handed over three hundred more silver pieces. With no little reluctance Oyaji handed over the weapon, he also gave Raphtalia a hide breastplate free of charge saying she needed something more fitting for battle.

Ranma showed Raphtalia the proper way of belting on the Katana, the exact angle required for the fasted draw. Oyaji watched him with interest "how much is a whet stone?" Ranma asked

"Fifty copper"

So he bought that too, as he picked it up it started reacted to the shield, curious he let the thing absorb it.

Requirements for Shield of Whetstone Unsealed

Shield of Whetstone

True power sealed … Equipment Bonus: Mineral Identification 1+

Special Effect: Automatic Polishing (8 Hours), High Consumption

Special effect rather than ability, well time to check the help section "An exclusive effect that will only be usable when equipped with a specific weapon.

The effect won't be usable by other weapon even if its true powers have been unsealed. Therefore, one will need to fit a specific weapon into a slot for this special ability to take effect."

Well how about that, a shield that took care of weapons. "What on this flat Melromarc is that?"

Ranma smiled "Not important, say how much common equipment do you have?"

Five minutes later he let the shield absorb what he had bought and several common items he found right outside.

Requirement for Rope Shield has been released

Requirement for Pikyu Pikyu[1] Shield has been released

Requirement for Wood Shield has been released

Requirement for Rock Shield has been released

Requirement for Butterfly Shield has been released

Requirement for Pipe Shield has been released

ETC...

Rope Shield

Unsealing[2] completed…Equipment Bonus: Skill -「Air Strike Shield」

Pikyu Pikyu Shield

Unsealing completed…Equipment Bonus: Beginner Rank's Weapon Repair Techniques I

Wood Shield

Unsealing completed…Equipment Bonus: Lumbering Techniques I

Butterfly Shield

Unsealing completed…Equipment Bonus: Paralysis Resistance (Small)

Pipe Shield

Unsealing completed…Equipment Bonus: Skill - 「Shield Prison」

All that he did was watched by Oyaji with an open mouth "What the hell kind of weapon is that?"

"The Legendary kind" Ranma told him cheerfully.

"Empty Night boy, you are going to be a terror."

A group of adventurers passed by them, most looking glum. Ranma glanced after them eyebrow raised "Oh those guys" Oyaji said "They went hunting for the so called king of the plains apparently someone killed it."

"King of the planes?"

"Ya sometimes monsters much higher than the levels of what is around it move in and stay, those creatures become much stronger and get titles like that."

"Hm I wonder what it looks like"

"From what they said it was a powerful Rhinogore"

Raphtalia glanced at him and he shook his head "Well that's good to know" He told Oyaji, they traded grips and said their farewells.

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><p>According to his help bar the Dragon Hourglass was located in the clock tower and since that building was the largest one building in the town itself finding their way there was not that hard. The receptionist greeted them with the look of distain, obviously his infamy has spread even here.<p>

"I'm here to see the hourglass" Ranma said in a business like tone.

She nodded and moved up from her chair leading them to the central room which had a vaguely spiritual like air about it. The Dragon hourglass was seven meters tall and if the room gave off a spiritual air this thing gave off a divine presence. And he out of all people ought to know, he had killed a being with kind of aura before.

The red sand fell slowly grain by grain and in his vision the numbers of a digital clock appeared. "6:20:12"

"Six days twenty hours twelve seconds Ranma muttered, that was when the next wave would hit. From what he understood when the wave happened he and whoever he was partying with would be pulled to the source of it by magic so he did not have to worry about being in the place it happened.

So he had a week before the wave would come, good perhaps he would get a few more useful things done before it happened.

"You" a woman's voice snarled.

Ranma and Raphtalia turned to in time to see the Spear Hero Motoyasu and Mein enter the room. Oh and five other women who looked to be in his party, *sigh* playboys.

Motoyasu looked like he had been doing well in the past two weeks,Motoyasu's gear was vastly different from a month ago, one can tell how high-leveled he was with a single glance at his equipment.

It wasn't iron-based, but a shiny armor made from silver. He wore cloth underneath which emitted a beautiful pale green tint, most likely due to the extra effects blessed by those clothes. Not only that, but there was the layer of chain mail worn in between those two; it was as if Motoyasu was boasting his absolute defense.

Mein on the other hand looked pretty much the same, her gear was better quality but none of the coloring or type had changed at all. However he got to see a look on her face he had not seen before, she was livid. Her face was red her eyes stroking, her body trembling with suppressed rage. Ranma gave her his sweetest smile "Trouble getting your rocks off?" he asked with a wink.

Oh that did it, four other women had to hold her back otherwise she would have gone for his throat then and there.

"You fiend!" Motoyasu snarled "Is not taking her chastity and not receiving punishment enough."

Ranma raised an eyebrow at him "Ranma who are these people?" Raphtalia asked coming to stand by his side.

At that moment Itsuki walked in with his people, he pulled up short at seeing Ranma. The martial artist gave him a nod and to his surprise after a moment's hesitation the Sword Hero returned the nod, it seemed someone had been thinking about the events that had taken place and asking questions.

The bow hero followed soon after, the kid actually tried to sneak in all quite like do a batman impersonation. Ranma found himself so amused by it that he did not react and let the kid have his moment. Both heroes also had much better equipment than the last time he had seen them.

"Just who is this beauty? She's simply adorable." Whispered the Spear Hero as he looked upon Raphtalia for the first time completely forgetting his rant.

Did Tatewaki have a long lost brother who had somehow got lost in another dimension because the spear hero was reminding Ranma of that Kendo practitioner a lot right now. As he was thinking that the spear hero sutured up to Raphtalia taking her hand and kissing it gently.

"Nice to meet you, young miss. I was summoned to this world as one of the four great heroes. Please call me by my name, Kitamura Motoyasu. I'm honored to make your acquaintance."

"Ah, yes... so you are one of those heroes."

Raphtalia nodded timidly while her eyes eluded his gaze.

"May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

"Umm..."

Troubled Raphtalia looked over at Ranma and darted her glance back to Motoyasu.

"I'm Ra-Raphtalia. It's nice to meet you."

"What's your business here today, cutie? For what purpose are you carrying around such a dangerous sword and equipment?" he asked.

"I-I am Ranma's apprentice"

The Spear Hero's eyes widened "You, another one."

Ranma sighed, Motoyasu tuned back to Raphtalia "My lady this man is a violent predator of women, he has already raped one of his companions and if he has not done anything to you yet he will. For your safety and my piece of mind please join me in saving the world."

Ranma waited, Raphtalia had to make her own choices, her own decisions, and her own judgments. Here and now he would see exactly who she was and what she stood for.

"That's not true" she said pulling her hand out of the Spear Heroes "Ranma would never do that." Her voice sounded angry, well that was a switch, a women being angry on his behalf instead of at him.

He touched Raphtalia's shoulder and motioned her to follow, they had more productive things to do get into a screaming contest. Motoyasu did not take that well, he reached over to grab Ranma apparently wanting to say something more. It was at that moment when one of the women working here arrived with a tray of ice cold water one of the heroes had asked for.

In a series of events that could only make Ranma look up at the multiverse at large and ask "why". An ice piece in one of the cups fell out bounced off the tray with the drinks , that said piece of ice hit the ground just before her left foot touched earth. The Result was practicable at least by Ranma standards, the lady slipped and fell forward. The Bow hero reacted with commendable speed and kept her from crashing to the ground.

The eight cups filled with the cold water had to splash somewhere and as the whipping boy of creation it naturally landed on him. The transformation from boy to girl took place in an instant faster than the blink of an eye, perhaps as fast as light itself. Red hair replaced black and she was suddenly very grateful to be wearing cloth not armor or she was be in a lot of pain right now with the sudden chest size increase.

All that happened in the course of a several seconds and the Spear hero was still in the process of grabbing at Ranma. *ploink* Motoyasu froze as did everyone else. Ranma looked down as her chest to see his hand squeezing her left boob, there was an instant of crystallized silence then. *Squeeze*

Ranma reacted dropping low foot sweeping out, knocking the spear hero off his feet. Girl form's speed was truly something else, as she wiped her body around and up foot raising until it was horizontal with her body. The speed was such that the spear here was still suspended in air not quite falling yet. With a battle cry Ranma attacked moving her foot and leg in a drop kick like a falling guillotine.

The kick landed center in the Spear hero's chest and drove him into the marble floor like a railroad spike. Had her body been in male from that blow would done major internal injuries. Luckily for the spear hero Girl form was only half as strong. So instead of a shattered section of marble floor a mere shockwave of force kicked some dust up into the air was all that occurred to the building. The Spear hero's eyes went white and his body automatically gasped for the breath that had been violently crushed out of him. Ranma was about to switch to the Rikari Shield and make sure he didn't kill the man when he caught his breath and he eyes started to refocus.

No one else moved as Ranma turned from the fallen hero, not a jaw was closed in that moment as the the heroes and their companions started in abject shock. Ranma shrugged "Well now ya know."

Without another word she walked forward Raphtalia following quietly, the receptionist blinked in surprise as she passed her no doubt wondering just how the hell someone had gotten past her with being noticed. Far behind she heard one of the male companions yell "W-what the hell was that!"

Well whatever she had been planning on using her girl form anyway to visit other shops anyway, "Um Ranma-sama" Raphtalia said.

Ranma gave her a look "Ranma" she corrected "Should we not go get some hot water?"

"No" She shook her head "Since the hero of the shield has a bad reputation, I'm gonna use this instead."

"You really think that will make a difference?"

Ranma raised her eyebrow "Yes I do, and if there men even better"

"Why is that?"

"The two mountain discount"

"The two mountain discount?"

Ranma grinned "You'll probably get it by the end of the day, though we better hurry news will get around that this form is also me.

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><p>The first place they stopped by medical shop where Ranma pawned all the usable medicine he had created. As it turned out the owner was male and given that Ranma's shirt was still soaked from the earlier water spill she managed to sell them for twice what she as expected.<p>

They next was the magic shop, it was a large bookstore of sorts with shelves and shelves of magical tomes stacked together. Thanks to the Rosetta Shield if she took a moment she could make out the titles on the covers.

It would be slow going but she could now actually make use of books in this world, at the counter a plump old lady in a witches outfit waited to assist them. "Good afternoon young ladies" She said in greeting.

Ranma and Raphtalia nodded to her "Why brings two young ones like yourself here?"

"We want to see if we can use magic"

"Ah I see, wait a moment please," she reached under the counter and pulled out a crystal ball. Magic hummed in the air as she placed it on a holder "Young lady gaze into the crystal ball"

Raphtalia leaned over to look "As expected, the young lady of the Raccoon race is suited for light and dark magic."

Ranma blinked "That sounds really powerful"

The old women giggled "Let me clarify, light and darkness are not holy and void. Your companion has the potential to become quite skilled with illusion using light distortion and darkness."

"I see"

"Now it's your turn"

Ranma did the same thing Raphtalia had done leaning over to look in the crystal ball, she did not see anything strange but the Old shop owner made a surprised sound. "What the"

Ranma pulled away and together with Raphtalia they watched the old women study the crystal ball for a good five minutes. "Um miss could you look into the crystal ball again"

Even though that was strange Ranma did so again "That does not make any sense, such an affinity does not exist."

"Um what are you talking about it?" Ranma asked nervously

The old lady looked up at her eyes filled with something akin to awe "You young lady, you have the potential to be a legend."

"Um"

"I had you do this spell twice to be sure, but it seems you don't have one affinity or two. Your body literally seems to have every affinity for any form of magic."

Was that part of being a hero or was that something from the Jusenkyo curse "Wait" the women said "Oh, sorry my mistake apparently you don't have the water affinity but everything else is still there."

That sounded like the cosmic force she knew "I would suggest started off in only one or two areas girl but given time you will be quite versatile."

Ranma nodded "How much are beginner level books worth"

"Around three silver"

"Raphtalia can you read?"

She shook her head "Not very well"

"Ok, we will work on that, Miss?" she asked "My I buy the beginner's books of fire, holy, and void."

"I have fire but void and holy are controlled by the church and they don't give those out"

"Ok, fire, lighting, and wind then"

"Very aggressive are you sure you don't want healing in place of one of those?"

"I have that covered but thank you for your concern."

They exchanged the coin for books and exited the store giving the old women an affectionate farewell, Ranma paused at the door however "Um quick question, which stat helps with magic the most?"

"Intelligence" the old women replied promptly.

"I see, thank you"

That concluded the last of their errands in town time to head to Raffan by his reckoning if they booked it, it would be a day and a half trip. Now that would not leave much time for studying but from what she understood there would be more than once wave.

"Master are you going to change back?" asked the beastgirl.

She shook her head "I'm going to see if I can get some use out of this greater intelligence stat when we camp tonight see if it helps with studying the Rosetta shield.

Later that night Ranma finished the last six chapters of the book and the test that followed in the end of the book. Realizing that if she had done this in girl from in the first place the two and a half weeks this had taken to learn would have been cut to three days she spent the rest of the night crying tears of frustration comforted by a very confused Raphtalia.

Rosetta Shield

True Power Unsealed: See it match it (Any written language seen by the bearer of the shield will be seen as the language taught by the Rosetta Shield)

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So how was that, I tried to add a bit more humor since one of my reviewers reminded me that Ranma was also a comedy. Humor is not my strongest suit along with my editing so I hope I did ok. Anyway have a good fanboy out.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

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Here is the next chapter hope you enjoy.

P.S I don't own any of theses characters they are propriety of Rumiko Takahashi and Aneko Yusagi

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><p>"I am the hero who commands the origin of power. I have read and deciphered the law of nature. Now burn in a flash of light!" "Etain ・Fireball"<p>

A nice basketball sized sphere of flame rocketed towards a blackened rock, the red flames licked over solid stone causing no damage. But that was rather the point of firing at a rock and not a tree, "You did it Ranma" Raphtalia told him.

Currently in girl from Ranma looked down at her blistered right hand and arm, they had made it to Raffan in about the time she thought it would take them. So they spent time doing generally four things, Mornings were spent training as he tutored her in what he knew about katana and they exercised their bodies. The next was one spending time at the dungeon to try and get a few levels, Raphtalia having more success her at it due to her lower level. But she had managed to gain several of her own, her current lv was 22 whereas Raphtalia had reached 18.

Third she tutored Raphtalia in reading and writing which while going slowly, as her companion had no stat boosts in the language learning department but it was still going well.

And finally Ranma had been studying fire magic, one and a half days of solid training and reading and up till this point severe burns on her right hand. But now for the first time it had worked perfectly. She closed her eyes for a moment sparks of Ki licking out over the burned arm, blisters disappeared, burn skin was replaced color was restored to normal.

That done Ranma smiled a little at the sky "Ya I did it" Glancing back at the book "Though I am almost afraid of trying to learn the two other spells the book hold"

"Nonsense Ranma is not afraid of anything" she said.

"Were that only true" the redhead said with a shiver thinking of a monstrous creature that toyed with its prey out of sheer malice. A creature who followed little red dots, a creature whom fish feared, the …. Cat.

Ranma shivered shaking her head "No, no, no, Neko ken was not going to be helpful right here, right now.

They had around three days tell the wave and Ranma had a good idea of what she wanted to do tomorrow. From what she had been given to understand the dungeon they had been using, an old abandoned mine shaft had a boss somewhere in it. Even if it were killed a new one, normally the same exact thing as what was killed would take its place. Since being in close proximity to other Legendary Weapons stunted growth the other three Heroes had avoided this place altogether since the shield had been pointed this way.

She remembered several boys from school doing some dice game and calling it a dungeon crawler well she was about to do the real thing. But that was tomorrow until then she had another spell to try and learn something called Flame Trap.

When it had gotten dark Ranma returned to camp, she had taken the precaution of wearing her old clothing before starting magic training and it turned out to be a good thing. Most of her old shirt was gone, in fact it covered nothing important any more. That along with her pants holding together by threads made for an image that would have given Motoyasu a heart attack if he had seen it.

Flame Trap turned out to be a spell that created an inscription on the ground or wall or tree or whatever surface it was fired at. The trick was aiming the damn thing, as pointing fingers did not work since it was not a projectile. It had taken several tries to understand what was going on and by that time she had unintentionally created a potent minefield of fire traps.

As it turned out you need to envision the place where it was to be set in your mind and hold it there. Any other way and it was appeared randomly, she did not understand why such a spell was considered beginner class. Or perhaps it was just the ungodly amount of intelligence that her girl form had that made it dangerous.

"Ranma?" Raphtalia asked in surprise.

Even though they were both girls right now she still seemed a little taken aback by Ranma's chesticles but right now she found herself not caring. The last healing she had done on herself had ended with her not having enough Ki to finish up. So while nothing major remained the skin of her chest back and legs was raw and peeling.

So Ranma ignored the Raccoon girls startled expression and went over the large pool of water they had made their camp beside. With a groan of relief she walked out a few steps and fell face forward into the water. It burned at first the sudden shock of cold burning her raw skin but as she held her breath and waited the sudden pain to slightly fade.

Vaguely the water stirred as another person entered, Ranma sighed letting out the breath she had been holding and surfaced. Gentle hands touched her shoulders "Don't turn around" Raphtalia whispered.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm helping" she said "Hold still"

Hands glided over her back as some sort of balm where it spread pain faded to a small echo and Ranma found herself almost whimpering. Ya she was probably spending too much time in girl form or perhaps guy form would have been doing the same thing.

"That's gona wash off you know" Ranma said in a quiet tone.

"No it won't, these are your heal pills crushed up and mixed with several plants my...my mother once showed me it's kind of like a soap."

Ranma said no more simply luxuriating in the moving hands of her companions "Where else are you burned?"

Eyes still shut Ranma turned and the hands resumed their movements over her chest and stomach. They paused on a blotch of burns that covered a fair section of her side. "Did you do this?" she asked.

"No that was an enemy of mine, probably the most powerful enemy I ever faced. I won, with a lot of help and a lot of luck but I never could get rid of those. Divine fire is a bitch to deal with" Ranma groaned again and nearly slumped forward as Raphtalia's hands began to move again.

"Am I hurting you?"

"No it feels good" Ranma whispered.

When she had finished Ranma laid back letting her body's natural buoyancy hold her up, Raphtalia then went to work on her legs. "I have never felt anything like this" she whispered.

"What?"

"A woman's gentle touch, it's almost sad, sixteen years and this is the first time I can remember being touched without fear of pain to follow."

"That-that sounds terrible Ranma"

"I didn't think it was so bad, until now."

They said nothing more as Raphtalia worked her magic on Ranma's aching body when she was at last finished Ranma felt more like a puddle of pleased sleepiness. Raphtalia had to help her out of the pool onto her sleeping pad, the last thing Ranma remembered seeing was Raphtalia's lovely smile as the girl dried her off. About half way through that Ranma simply passed out too tired to do much of anything and it felt amazing.

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><p>Dawn was starting to raise when Ranma woke up, Raphtalia was sleeping by her side naked as the day she was born. Ranma had to blink a few times to process that, had she just slept all night with a naked women.<p>

...Best not to overthink that, a glance at the status screen showed MP back to full and her burns were gone as well. Wonderful, now to get breakfast started. The Raccoon Girl's nose twitched as the smell of meat and herbs wafted through the air. She mumbled something as began to sit up, Ranma cleared her throat loudly and that shook the girl awake, she took note of the state of her current dress and wisely reached for her clothing before moving the blankets.

"Ten years old, ten years old, ten years old" Ranma repeated in her head. "Body may be adult but mind is child….unless she was bull shiting me which is entirely possible."

"Good morning Ranma" she said kneeling by the fire warming her hands. The days were mild at best but early morning was cool. A mug of water began to boil as she did so, Ranma focused ki to her hand and picked up the blazing hot metal mug. With a sigh she dumped over her hand activating the curse. Girl became boy for the first time in several days, Raphtalia blinked at that "Do you have plans for today that don't involve magic?"

"Ya, me and you we are going to conquer that dungeon"

"Ah so why do you choose to fight in your male form?"

Ranma shrugged grateful for the sudden abrupt lessening of pressure of his spine, "Because I'm more comfortable this way and my magic skill is not up to par yet."

"I see" Raphtalia waited patiently as Ranma served them some of the stew he had been making. They ate together in silence, letting a comfortable atmosphere build between them, things like this only happened on the rare occasions when it had only been him and Kasumi eating together.

When that was finished Ranma went about putting out the fire and grabbing something that might be useful in a dungeon. Raphtalia spent her time fighting her armor on and looking over her Katana. Ranma had shown her everything he knew about taking care of such a weapon right down to the proper way to resheath the blade.

Raphtalia had taken all his lessons to heart and worked diligently to take care of the weapon. A side note upon further investigation over the past few days Ranma had concluded that yes drawing the weapon did darken the area.

Raphtalia had also informed him that as she gained levels the sword itself was gaining small damage increases. He had a feeling that this weapon was a lot more than it appeared it be but any attempt to scan the thing or red its info was met with a blank section where the words should have been.

Well just one other thing to keep an eye on, when everything was set they made their way out of the forest that had been there camping site and into the town of Raffan. The people it seemed were used to Raphtalia by now but he had made it a point to not enter the place as male. It only took a few minutes before his identity was known.

The atmosphere while not precisely becoming hostile did become more guarded and unfriendly. Women gave him a wide berth and the guards watched his movements closely. But he was not here to go into any buildings or make friends this was merely the fastest way to the entrance of the dungeon

The place it started at was an old mine shaft that monsters had taken over, in fact according to reports some of the creatures had mined further in moving beyond what humans had done. So far he and Raphtalia had stayed near the entrance fighting various three foot tall lizard men and goblins.

He had gotten the, Scale Shield which had a small defense boost and the Scavenger shield which gave a slight bonus to money found on dead monsters from fighting them.

So far nothing equaled that Stone Hide Shield but then again he had killed what amounted to a secret boss for it. The monsters at the beginning avoided them, apparently there had been some witness to the way they had been farming them. Survival instinct told them that it was pointless to mess with those two, let the stronger ones deal with them perhaps they could have the scraps.

Two hundred yards into the mine they reached and passed the first room where much of their time had been spent. Once upon a time it had been used for a meal room of sorts, now a days the monsters Ranma and Raphtalia had been fighting called it home. However as stated above there seemed to be nothing here at the moment.

Passing the room they entered further, the torch light that was used for this mine faded as apparently the things beyond did not need sight as much. Raphtalia picked one up and so did Ranma, then he paused, thumped his own forehead and sighed touching the torch to his shield.

Requirements for the Glow Shield have been unsealed

True Power Sealed: Equipment Bonus: Aura of light thirty feet.

The shield became smaller but stayed rounded, the green gem in the center began to glow with an inner fire. Thirty feet in every direction became well lit and the light of the Glow Shield made it only slightly difficult to see up to one hundred feet.

As the moved down a narrow hallway the monsters struck, howls of hunger and dark joy exposed as give things charged them. They looked somewhat like goblins only five feet tall and built like an American fake wrestlers. They wore only loincloths like their brethren but each had a large spear on hand, perfect for tunnel like this.

Ranma did not need to say anything, he had prepared Raphtalia on how to fight. He was the vanguard, he was tear a hole through the attackers and Raphtalia would ruthlessly take advantage of it.

The Glow shield did not give him extra defense and it was smaller than he would have liked but seeing was more important in this battle. He deflected the first spear and batted aside the second one with his bare hand. Then he was inside the effective range for the spear, he grabbed the second one by the face and threw him into the spear of his fellow while deflecting a third spear thrust.

Raphtalia made her move an instant after, the first one whom Ranma had ignored moved to set itself again but Raphtalia drew and struck at the same instant sending an arc of black ichor onto the mine walls. She parried that thrust of the forth one sliding along the spear shaft Katana at a downward angle. Before her opponent could recover she rammed into him hip to hip just like Ranma had taught her. A male's strength came from his chest and shoulders, a woman's strength came from her hips. The Goblin stumbled back and Raphtalia's Katana slashed upward ending him.

Ranma got the last only leaping clear over the body of the Goblin he had thrown on the spear and kicking the last one hard enough for its neck to snap.

Ranma 120 exp

Raphtalia 80 exp

Silver 2

Copper 120

Requirements for Scavenger Shield 2 unsealed

True Power Sealed: Equipment Bonus: Money increase (Moderate)

The moved on in the light of the glow shield coming out into an open cavern. Straight ahead was the path they were flooring to the left was the stone walls of the mountain. To the right was a drop into an abyss of blackness. Ranma took out a stone he had grabbed beforehand and dropped it, it fell for almost a minute before very dimly he heard it hit water. "Ok not going down there" he thought.

Above them just only of vision movement stirred the thumping of wing beats against the blackness. "Bats" he thought "Hopefully"

The stayed close to the wall warily listening for any signs that the winged creatures in the blackness would strike. However nothing changed as they reached the end of the large chamber and entered another tunnel. Vein's metal glowed around them and Ranma could see why this place had been mined.

They encountered around ten more of those hybrid goblins but even with the advantage of spears in a narrow space they could not stop Ranma's charges. And once the line was broken Raphtalia could clean up with ease. He found himself very impressed with her movements and actions it seemed she was a natural.

Soon the tunnel began to slope down at an almost alarming rate following a gold vein that had never gotten around to being mined. He found out why at the bottom, the pathway straightened out and moved on into darkness and it looked just like the rest of the mine.

They moved further one when they heard it, several low growling sound moving closer to them. "Get ready" he said unnecessarily, or so he thought.

When he did not receive an answer he looked back, Raphtalia was shaking her face what white to the lips eyes locked ahead of them where the sound was coming from.

Something was very wrong here, glowing yellow eyes opened in the darkness, three sets of them. The growls became fiercer as three shapes made their way into the light. Imagine a Doberman but bigger with more muscles and longer sharper claws. Now Imagine that it has two necks that split off from the same body and two heads with mouths filled with razor sharp teeth.

The moved forward slowly deliberately as if wanting to savor the fear that filled the air, Raphtalia's mouth opened but no sound came out. The confidence of an adult he had seen in her was completely replaced by a child's terror. He knew the look in her eye's it was the same one that filled his when he looked at cats. Utter mind numbing terror at a sight you never wanted to see. The dog demons growled again, and that was when she started screaming as if that was the signal the demons charged howling their joy.

The moved swiftly parting to either side, one would keep Ranma busy the other two would rip apart the screaming female. That was the plan and perhaps against most adventures of lv 20 level it would have worked.

They charged in an arrow formation the first reaching Ranma and the other two at its right and left. Raphtalia's screams were echoing in his ears and that meant rage had ignited his soul, he struck out as the first dog demon reached him. The blow was something he had not done since coming here, for in this moment he held nothing back. His fist struck right between the splitting necks of the dog demon and pulverized every bone in its body, the corpse's momentum was stopped and reversed the body flying backwards. When it landed it resembled a meaty paste that splashed all over the floor.

In the next instant the two other dog demons were at both his sides, he grabbed with one on left by one of its skulls and blasted the other point blank with Moko Takabisha. The ki blast chewed a hole through the chest cavity of right most dog demon and it went tumbling forward a little past Raphtalia whimpering is its life spilled out over the floor in a pool of black ichor.

Spinning in time with his grab he hauled the last dog demon over his head by main strength and smashed it against the wall with his full might. A loud wet *Splat* echoed through the cave network as Ranma dropped the broken corpse of the last demon.

He moved over to his companion who by now was just crying in pure terror, he pulled her tightly against him saying nothing. It took a while for her to calm down, he alternated between stroking her back and whispering encouragements and they had the desired effect.

She made no move to remove his embrace nor did she look at him "I have shown you something shameful" she whimpered "I'm sorry"

"What happened?"

She was quiet for a moment "I grew up in a small border town of demi humans, even as a baby I was not able to breathe as well as I should have. Our healer said it had something to do with my lungs and she kept it from getting worse. When the first wave hit our village was wiped out," She shuttered "There was a Cerberus among them a three headed dog of terrible power, we tried to run but the monsters did not care they killed everyone. My parents fled with me but became trapped at a cliffs edge, the Cerberus followed us. My parents tossed my off the cliff into the ocean before the monsters could get me."

Her voice failed her and tears started to fall again, "Somehow I got ashore and by the time I made it back up the knights and adventurers had subjugated the area. I found my parents later...what was left of them. I-I don't remember much after that clearly until I woke up in a circus tent tied up to be sold, like a piece of meat."

Growling sounds emanated from the tunnel, and Raphtalia's breathing quickened in terror. Ranma stood up eyes hidden behind the shadow of his hair. "Please" she begged "Don't leave me"

Ranma turned away from her to face the Dog Demons as four more of them rushed into the light. Ki danced along the body of the martial artist, his body trembled his breathing erratic.

The dogs were halfway to them when Ranma acted "ARHHHHHH!" he howled letting ki empower his voice, his rage transform the sound into an attack all its own. The Dog's stumbled to a stop gnashing teeth and whimpering eyes lowered as the sound played havoc with their superior hearing.

He charged them eyes bloodthirsty and filled with wrath, Raphtalia could only watch the havoc as her master tore the demons apart. It was horrible, it was beautiful, it was awe inspiring, and never had she felt more useless in her life.

He had trained her, he had shone her strength and what had she gained?

"Indeed what have you gained" a woman's voice asked

Time seemed to stop for the Raccoon Girl "Who's there?"

"It matters not"

The Black Katana in her hand pulsed "He has given you the means to fight but he can not give you with will to do so."

Raphtalia whimpered "Fear is natural child, fear is important, fear teaches, fear protects, but it is never a thing to let dominate."

She could not understand who, what was saying this?

"Do you know why he is angry?"

"Why?"

"Because he was not there to save your parents, that child belonged to another world, there is no way under creation that he could have changed anything that happened to you. And yet he still angers, he still bleeds for you. Are you really going to watch him and do nothing child?"

"I don't want to watch" she whispered

"Then stand girl, if you are worthy of me stand!"

Time resumed and body trembling Raphtalia stood, legs remembered how to move her teeth bared against the fear she moved. "Do not pretend the fear does not exist" The female voice said "But strike, strike so that what happened to you never happens to anyone else. Stand beside that boy and together face the evil that is coming!"

A battle cry erupted from her lips as she charged the demon dogs her master was fighting. She was afraid, she was terrified of those demons. But she could not let that rule her, she had to stand at his side not his back, she owed him no less.

And so she struck the jet black Katana cleanly slicing the beast, it howled in anger and snapped its twin heads at her. She flinched the vision of her parents being torn apart as she fell blotting out everything.

But nothing touched her, in the blink of an eye an arm had bared the beast's path both mouths clamping down on it with all their might. Ranma had used his bare arm to shield her from those fangs.

Something inside her snapped, her battle cry became something truly hellish to hear, she leapt over the dog completely bring her katana down on its back slicing clean through the spine. She landed in a roll avoiding the last demon dog and she came up her katana dis as well opening its side. It snapped at her and avoided one mouth and flicked her Katana across the other's nose. The Dog did as all dogs did when hit in such a sensitive spot, it flinched back Raphtalia ruthlessly pressed her attack laying open cuts on both heads ending its life in a slash that cut both of the dog's throats.

And still she cut it her howls echoing over the mine, a shadow moved and she slashed at it. Ranma caught her wrist with ease moving inside her range and pressing her tight against him. She fought him at first nearly berserk in her fury but he held keeping her wrist locked and holding fast his supernatural strength an undeniable constant. Slowly the fury died, her arms lowered her breathing went from heavy to slow and controlled.

Her body went limp suddenly exceedingly tired, neither of them moved as Ranma sank to the ground once again. "That was amazing" he said gently "I wish I could do that against my fear"

"Master does not fear anything" she whispered.

Just this once he did not bother to correct her about using master "Not true" he said "In this moment you have proven your mind stronger than mine in some way and I am proud of you."

Closing his eyes he channeled his ki into Raphtalia washing away the fatigue, she made a pleased sound that got way the hell too much of a reaction from his body.

He pulled her to her feet thankful that his clothing was baggy enough to hide his sudden arousal, there was no place for that here. Especially since he did not know if her mind was a child or not, he was now suspecting that it was something in between.

"Come let's finish this dungeon"

"Yes master"

Together they moved on fighting through several more demon dogs and giant goblins until the reached the last room. It was a large dome with crystal growing from the floor to the ceiling and magic coursed through the place enough to make Ranma's spine tingle.

In one of the crystals in the back of the room had seemingly grown around a chest leaving the thing suspended in the structure itself. In the center of the room another demon dog stood up from its napping spot, it had one head but the thing was twice the size of the other demon dogs. Along its spine and around its neck diamond like shards had grown flat along its body forming a sort of armor over those vital areas. It pawed the floor once and motes of blue light fell from its jaws. Fifteen more diamond like shards floated up from the floor and began to orbit the things body.

"Diamond Dog Lv 30" the shield told him

"What the hell kind of beginner dungeon is this?" Ranma asked the world at large.

...wait a moment, just who had told him about this beginner level dungeon? "….that bitch" Ranma muttered as he readied himself for battle.

"Raphtalia stay back its almost twice your level do not attack until we know what its attacks and specials are."

He said it in his command voice and Raphtalia knew better than to argue, she took a few steps away as the Glow shield morphed into the Stone Hide shield. He frowned then decided there was no better time to try out the shields ability. As he thought that words came to mind and he spoke them aloud "I am the conduct of those who come before, take shape at my will powers of old. Those that bestow victory and grace to the pure of heart, show me the proper path for I am Worthy!."

There was an almost sighing like sound from the earth, the wind which by an stretch of logic should not have been able to do anything this far into the mountain stirred his clothing. His skin glowed in a red aura that shrouded his body, the diamond dog howled and Ranma charged it. Ten of the orbiting diamond shards shot out like bullets from a gun. The stone hide caught most of them and of the three that it did not Ranma avoided two of them. The final one pierced his clothing and hit skin, it shattered leaving only a slight pin prick.

Then Ranma returned the favor and struck at the Demon's head, it was stopped by a shield of magic that surrounded the dog. Cracks formed along the shield at the blow and it seemed like one another punch would shatter it. He struck with his shield and the remaining five shards moved in front of the shield interlocking. The shield strike met the defense and two of the shards broke apart, the dog leapt back and howled. On reflex Ranma dove to the right as the nine shards passed the air where his back and been and returned to orbit around the diamond dog.

It howled again and crystal suddenly shot up from the floor at Ranma's feet, he leapt clear rolling in a smooth motion. As he came to his feet he tensed and leapt forward unleashing all his strength, the thirteen shards interlocked and he punched clean threw them hitting the magic bubble shield again. The shards had blunted that blow enough so the shield did not break. Ranma struck with his shield arm and remaining eight shards reformed to defend two breaking as they blocked the shield. The stone hide shield was too big, it spread his power over too wide an area to have the same affect his fist did.

The demon snarled and the crystal that had erupted from the floor broke into smaller pieces and shot towards the martial artist. Crouching slightly holding up the Stone Hide Shield he protected his head and chest letting his legs take the shard storm. Apparently twelve damage reduction plus his ungodly defense meant that his legs only took some minor cuts and abrasions from the equivalent of magic machine gun fire.

The six orbiting shards shot forward again all hitting this time but like the first one that had hid they exploded on hitting flesh. Ranma punched the shield again and it broke finally, the Diamond dog leapt back mana rising from the floor and gathering to the demon. It grew twice its original size, its maw opened and Ranma had to dodge that left a stream of new formed crystal in its wake.

The demon whirled to face its opponent and did not see Raphtalia's move, the Racoon girl blurred forward bring down a vertical slash cutting into the demon's vulnerable side.

The Diamond dog whirled to face the new threat but Ranma hit him, striking its large shoulder, in that moment he found something in this world was not pulverized by his brute force. Something did crack and he brought up his shield into him block the breath attack, he knocked him all the way across the room and into the crystal walls the attack flowing around him and solidifying into crystal.

The demon snapped at Raphtalia but she rolled under it opening a cut across its belly, it moved awkwardly trying to get in a position to attack but she managed to keep herself at his flanks or under it opening several more painful cuts.

Ranma flexed his entire body and the crystal encase shattered, the dog turned in time to see the biggest threat back in the fight. As the martial artist leapt for it, magic flared and a wall of crystal erupted from the ground. Ranma punched right through it but the wall slowed him and the Diamond dog leapt to the side biting at Ranma's head.

He blocked it with his Shield shoving it in the huge dog's mouth, Raphtalia took full advantage of being suddenly ignored, she focused all her energy her breathing, her timing, her angle. Then she struck at the demons hind leg, the black Katana cut true severing the back leg. There was a yelp of agony as the dog let go of the shield. Sensing a large amount of mana gathering Ranma rolled under the dog placing himself between it and Raphtalia. An omnidirectional wave of force shot out. The stone hide was great against physical but magical not so much, the shards were an exception because they were magically thrown physical projectiles but against pure magical force like this it did not block jack. So instead at the last second he stomped his feet into the ground up to his ankles and Raphtalia grabbed his waist.

He held for the instant needed and the wave passed, of course the dog was attacking now and his feet were struck in the ground. Raphtalia stepped in front of him her blade striking a line of red across the creature's noes. Like the lesser dog demons it flinched away giving Ranma the precious second he needed to get unstruck.

He capitalized on its moment of weakness and leapt in striking in a vicious uppercut, the dog had been readying another breath attack but the instant before it could fire the strike of Ranma shut its mouth and broke its Jaw completely. It was a double whammy because its breath attack tuned in on the demon itself wreaking havoc to its insides.

Ranma struck on last time leaping into the air Stone Hide morphing, the Hide of the Ancestors ability faded with it as the shield changed and was replaced with the Sword Horn Shield. With a battle cry Ranma drove the bladed shield into the Demons brain with all the strength as his command. There was a one last whimper before the thing fell at his feet dead its head destroyed by the attack of the shield hero.

Ranma fell back on his ass "Holy crap" he said to nobody.

Higher Level Boss Bonus, Rare Monster Bonus Lv mod 5, Lay Line Empowered boss Lv mod 15.

Exp Gain

Ranma 4000

Raphtalia 3500

Gold gain 55

Ranma Lv 30

Raphtalia Lv 27

Ranma laid back blinking at those words, he flicked to the help section "Level Mod: Circumstances that empower a monster beyond its level." Hm he muttered "Lay Line: A vein of magic that runs through the earth like blood through the body. Can be harnessed at specific places of power or by a mage who has achieved the Archmage title."

"Holy crap" Ranma said again as Raphtalia gave him a hand up "So even though it was level thirty it was like fighting a fifty...empty night"

He began the process of absorbing the Diamond dog into the shield, along with a broken piece of crystal from the walls.

Requirements for the Crystal Shield Unsealed:

True Power Sealed: Equipment Bonus: Magic Resistance (Medium), Special Effect Crystal Encase "By thrusting the point of the shield into the earth the user can cause crystals to erupt from the earth and entrap and opponent"

Combo Move Gaia Prison "Crystal Incase into Shield prison to create Gaia Prison"

The shield itself was a Kite shield similar to a crusader or Saxon shield and it was completely made of translucent green crystal.

Requirements for the Diamond Shard Shield Unsealed:

True Power unsealed: Tremor Sense 150 feet(A creature with tremorsense is sensitive to vibrations in the ground and can automatically pinpoint the location of anything that is in contact with the ground and within range) Equipment Bonus: Defense 5, Special Effect: Diamond Shot( The user points the tip of the shield at an enemy and fires a razor sharp shard at them)

The Diamond Shard Shield was like his small shield only slightly bigger the very edge of a shard top coming out of the bottom.

Requirements for the Diamond Dog Shield Unsealed:

True Power Unsealed: Magic Defense Bonus (Small) Equipment Bonus: Defense 5 Special Ability: Crystal Wall (Summon A wall of crystal from the earth to defend allies)

This shield was round with a open maw of a diamond dog emblazoned on its metal.

Piece by piece he he cut apart the Diamond dog and absorbed it into the shield keeping only the meat he was going to cook. Corpses were not things to leave around, they had a bad habit of stinking and he had gotten sick once when forced to spend the night with his Pa near a dead cow.

Finally with that finished he turned to the crystal with chest in it, he popped his neck loosened his arms and grabbed both sides of the crystal and began to squeeze. Raphtalia watched in silence as cracks started to form on surface, the cracks began to spread further and deeper as the earthen element fell apart before the physical might of Ranma Saotome.

The chest was made of metal and colored red with the symbol of a thornless rose emblazoned on its top. It was not locked or if it had been locked at one point was not anymore. Ranma opened the chest and looked inside, there were several things of interest. First the monetary gain, there were four emeralds, three rubies, and 20 gold pieces, and five jet black pieces of ore. Beyond that there was an earring made of obsidian, and two golden bracelets one had a faint ring of script inscribed around its outer band and the other looked to have a diamond fused to the top.

Raphtalia had her mouth open at the find, if her expression was any indication they had hit it big, he carefully picked up the earring and bracelets easily being able to tell they were magical in nature.

He made a note not to put them on until there purpose was figured out, "Can we get out of this place Ranma?" said Raphtalia interrupting his thoughts.

Standing up he nodded "Yea,lets go"

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><p>Absolutely nothing bothered them on the way out it seemed killing the Diamond Dog nothing in that place wanted any part of them. In fact Ranma noted that the aura of dread that he had been feeling ever since entering the dungeon was fading. The bats in the wide room either were gone or made no sound, as they reached the entrance he thought he could see for a moment the backs of Goblins fleeing the cave to disappear into the woods.<p>

Raphtalia seemed to notice it too "One of these places" she muttered.

"Pardon?" Ranma asked

"This was a special kind of dungeon a onetime event if you will. They show up from time to time, monsters seem to have a knack for taking over places of importance. The village that was near mine had a large brewery at one point, it was the cornerstone of the town. Then overnight it was attacked and taken over by monsters who made it into a dungeon the town never recovered and soon died as people left."

"So that means?"

"More than likely there is some kind of reward for clearing that place out."

"...Where would we go to find such a reward?"

As it turned out the Raffan had a small adventures guild office near the central marketplace, Ranma entered it looking around. It was clean well kept, with some chairs and a table that several adventures sitting around it talking about good exp farming areas and things they had found in their travels.

There was a rather dapper looking man sitting behind a counter slash dest with a large board above him listing jobs for the adventurer's guild. On the very top things about the mine dungeon were written. Apparently the town itself was offering one hundred gold pieces and a rare spellbook of the user's choice from the town's mayor.

He walked up to the desk and the man looked up at him "Ah Shield sama" he said seemingly without any malice

"That's me and you are?"

"Chester. C. Eliot" the man replied tilting his head.

Well that name was out of place but Ranma did not want to make a fuss about it "I cleared the mine" he said simply.

Conversation stopped as Chester's well-trimmed eyebrows raised "Really?"

Ranma reached into his pack and pulled out two diamond dog shards and several of its teeth "Will these be enough to show I killed the boss of that place, the Diamond Dog"

"Um, please wait a moment" He pounded his desk once and a boy came out from the back room "Take Jasper and go to the mine tell me what you find."

The boy nodded once saying nothing and went into the back room only to ride away on a giant lizard. Chester meanwhile took out a book with pages and pages of monsters and monster parts. He matched the teeth and the shards to the right description "You have killed a Diamond Dog but please let us make sure it was the right one."

Ranma nodded went to lean against the wall when he noted several of the adventures had left leaving open chairs. With a shrug he took a seat along with Raphtalia "What kind of spellbook do you want?" she asked.

"If we get it, I'm kind of hoping on that will allow me to identify items."

Chester glanced up from his books "Hero sama you just need to raise your appraise skill for that"

"How do I do that?"

"Experience, reading books about materials and magic buying and selling items you find. Most of the best appraisers are high class merchants."

"Should I take my stuff to one of them?"

Chester hesitated "You should do that only with stuff you want to sell, if you let a merchant look at a high class item odds are good he will short sell to you in hopes for getting it for himself.'

"Hmm, you any good at it?"

"I am well versed but it is not a skill I practice"

Ranma considered that for a moment and took out the earring and bracelets "What do you see when you look at these?"

He walked over to the man and placed them on his desk, the man looked pursing his lips "These are well made where did you find them?"

"Chest behind the Diamond Dog"

"Ahh, well these have a lv restrict of 40"

"Well that sucks" Ranma muttered putting a finger on the earing "Wait, now the restrict is gone"

"What?" He said taking his finger off it.

"Now it's back"

The looked at each other and Ranma picked up the two bracelets "Lv restrict is gone"

He put them down "And now it's back...do you have a Lv modifier item on you by chance?"

Ranma shook his head "Well that is quite strange perhaps it is part of being a hero?"

The Martial Artist shrugged "Well since that restrict is not a problem I'll tell you what they do."

He held up the bracelet with the diamond fused to it "This one has the ability to store up to one hundred points of mana and convert into SP"

Ranma flicked on the status bar looking, the screen flickered and the bar SP appeared below "Ki/mana"

"SP, this is the power used to awaken the abilities of the legendary items"

That was strange, but then again he had only used a Shield Ability just today and he had not been looking at what it cost him to use it that was very good to know. "This one" Chester held up the bracelet with the inscribed writing "It's very vague to me something to do with the wind, I apologize but I can tell you nothing more."

Ranma nodded "That was more than I knew a second ago, please don't apologize." He picked up the black earing "What does this do?"

"Ah that one I do know, it is one in a rare series of ear ware created by the Legendary Queen Morrigan. It is quite a rare find and sells for a fortune to the right buyer."

"What does it do?"

"...Is that really a question?"

"What?"

"Queen Morrigan made them that would be a clue"

"I come from another world who is she?"

"Oh, my apologies shield hero Queen Morrigan Aensland was and perhaps still is the Queen of Succubi"

Ranma's arm went ramrod straight holding the earring as far away from himself as possible, slowly he turned and placed the earing inside a bag, which he then put in another bag and stuffed it in the bottom of his pack.

"I see you have been burned by charm effects before?"

"One time a charm made me think I was in love with the guy" Ranma shivered at that memory it had almost gotten him buried alive.

Chester did not say anything seeming to know that perhaps some things were better left mysteries. There was a sound of movement the large lizard the boy had been riding padded back to behind the guild office. The boy came out from the back a few seconds later looking excited "It's gone master, the aura is gone. I even saw dog demons fleeing the mine and growing smaller by the second."

"Well Shield sama it seemed you have earned yourself the reward, Chester went back to the safe and opened it handing Ranma a sack "One hundred gold coins sir, if you will follow me."

Chester glanced at the adventures remaining and they quickly left the office, he led Ranma and Raphtalia outside where he flipped a open sign to closed. Leading them on a walk through town they ended up at a large house near the northern end. Chester opened the house with a key and led them in "You're the mayor?" Ranma asked.

"Oh no the mayor is out for the rest of the week he went to the capital to try and get knights to come clean out the mine but with the wave prospects were not good. He left me the keys on the off chance anyone managed to do it while he was away. Chester led them to a small library within the home "Please choose any one of the spell tomes you wish but only one."

Ranma nodded and began to have a look, he avoided the fire section not wanting to try any of those advanced spells just yet. There were no lighting element tomes surprisingly and he questioned about that "The mayor was hit by a lightning bolt as a child never wanted to even collect books about that."

"Fair enough" Ranma said.

He went to where the wind tomes were, he had not yet even done a wind spell but they could not be as bad as his experience with fire. He found a book bound in gold trim titled Mastery with the symbol of Air below."

Well it would be a long time before he could be able to pull that off but still when the time came...he picked it out and showed Chester "I see I would highly recommend not trying anything from that before you have gained skill with that element."

The Martial Artist nodded solemnly he had not planned on even opening this book for a while, it would give him something to strive for. Raphtalia had been pretty quiet up till now her eyes distant in thought, saying goodbye to Chester they made their way back to camp. "Is something wrong?" he asked her.

She blinked sharply snapping out of her thoughts "Hm?"

"Are you ok"

Her eyes met his "I am much better than I have been in a long time."

Ranma nodded "Raphtalia?"

"Yes"

"After this wave, let's hunt down that Cerberus."

She was silent until they arrived back at camp, it was perhaps six thirty by his reckoning. "Master" she said "The knights managed to drive it off but only because there were sixty of them, there is no need to endanger yourself." Her lip quivered but she did not cry "My parents are dead, nothing can bring them back."

Ranma sighed and put his arm around her shoulder, which was hard since she was taller than he was "Even if it won't bring them back a monster like that needs to be taken down."

She said nothing "If you want I go get it by myself" Ranma said.

"NO!" she said in a panic, probably because she knew he would do it by himself if it came to that.

"Ok then" Ranma walked over to the pool and splashed some of the water over his head, the cures activated and he became she. Returning to their things she undressed and put back on her clothing from her world. The once pants now shorts covered enough for a comfort though the shirt was a lost cause, with a sigh she set it to the side and with Raphtalia's help she wrapped her chest in something akin to medical gauze. "Are you not tired Ranma?"

She shook her head "Na I want to work on magic a bit more before crash, tomorrow we do nothing, we rest up and prepare for the wave."

Raphtalia nodded and after a moment of thought moved to follow her, Ranma glanced at the beginner's tome of fire and made a face. She moved her hand over to the book of wind and brought it along with she would finish fire later when the memory of the burns had faded.

Leaning magic was at first almost boring, it involved Ranma leaning against a tree reading the beginner's wind tome. It was surprisingly scientific in the way it described how the spell worked, but a good chunk of mysticism was thrown in as well speaking of how mana interacted with the wind.

It was growing dark by the time Ranma felt prepared to attempt the first cast of a spell it was a simple wind blast designed to knock an opponent back.

"I am the hero of the shield who commands the origin of power. I have read and deciphered the law of nature. Now flail in the embrace of the wind" "Zephyr・Wind Squall"

To her complete shock it worked the first time letting her emit a jet of wind that would have knocked a human tumbling. "That was awesome" Raphtalia said eyes shining "And on your first try."

"No one is more shocked than me" Ranma assured her looking at her hands. What had been different about that? She had the affinity for fire but wind had felt much easier, granted moving air was different than messing with heat and energy. Perhaps wind had a higher tolerance for mana overcharge or was it that fact the she had mastered Hiryu Shoten Ha which while mostly based on the manipulation of hot and cold ki did cause a tornado, just to be sure she did the spell several times with the same result. Ok then perhaps time to move on to the second spell "Wind Bullet"

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><p>They slept in the next day waking only when their stomachs demanded food, Ranma also boiled some water and changed back into a man. The day was spent lazing around with Ranma reading more about wind magic and Raphtalia working on her language lessons. They were both very good at saying nothing while still being comfortable, in fact the entire day they hardly said one word to each other. They had one more night of rest and then if Ranma judged correctly around noon the next day the wave would hit.<p>

It was evening before the silence was broken "It's coming master" Raphtalia said

"Ranma" he corrected her "And ya the wave is coming"

"I'm afraid"

"Completely normal, even I am afraid"

"You're afraid you won't be able to save everyone, I afraid for my life it's not the same."

"Raphtalia, Its normal, is what mortals do, by most reasonable standards I'm insane compared to normal people. But even I fear for my life, I just consider the lives of others more important. A martial artist protects the weak it is because they have more power than others that they must do so. Now that I am the hero of the shield well that responsibility is tenfold."

"You really are like her" a voice said

Both of them jumped to their feet but the female voice laughed "No, no, I'm right here"

The black katana pulsed from its resting place dark but not malicious energy flowed from its plain scabbard. "A talking sword" Ranma said "Somehow I am not surprised"

"As a fulcrum of Chaos I should hope not child"

"I don't know if you just insulted me but I'm gona assume not...so any reason for talking?"

The sword said nothing more and after a few minutes waiting they realized it was not going to,

"Well now we know the blade is sentient perhaps that's why its stats are growing with you."

Raphtalia gulped "She helped me back in the dungeon but still it kind of scares me that it's alive."

"If you stick around with me I promise you that a talking sword is going to be one of the least surprising things to happen."

"You're not joking are you?"

"Not in the least"

The next day came and the timer was almost finished counting down "Ready?" Ranma asked shield in its Stone Hide form. Raphtalia took a cleansing breath "Ready" she whispered.

"I will protect you" he assured her as the timer went to ten seconds.

"And I will protect you" she told him back as the timer reached five.

He gave her a wide grin "Now that's the spirit"

The timer reached zero and Ranma and Raphtalia were shrouded by the magic of the Dragon Hour glass as time and space bent to its will sending them to the start of the wave.

It was time to begin the legend, it was time to watch the Rise of Ranma Hero of the Shield.

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Hope you enjoyed it as much as I had fun writing it. Have a good day Fanboy out.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

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Wow this chapter ran long, but I still had fun writing it so it fine.

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><p>A deafening sound echoed throughout the world as everything changed and shifted with the sudden teleportation. The first thing Ranma noticed was the sky, it was dyed an eerie red that seemed to pulse with the beat of ones heart. Cracks, cracks in the freakin sky began to appear reality seeming to be peeled back. The fucking sky was breaking apart. Vague shadows of creatures began to claw their way out of it and a torrent of howls and shrieks hit them like a pressure wave<p>

"Ranma" Raphtalia shouted.

He looked and noticed what she had seen, they were standing on a road in the middle of farmland with a mountain to their side. "What" he asked about to move "

"Look" she said pointing

There was what looked like coal mine "Where are we?" he asked.

"I think we're near Ryute Village"

That had been another possible place for them to have gone but Raffan had been stuck in his head the whole time so they decided to do that instead. "Given the fact that the country did not know where the wave was going to hit he got the idea behind Raphtalia's words. Ryute was could not have been prepared properly.

A group of people rode past him mounted on horses, the three other heroes and their twelve companions moving at fast clip towards the Wave of calamity. Even from there the masses of dark monsters could be seen smelt and heard. That was perfect they could strike the monsters while they were gathering and draw the attention he on the other hand could...

A large group of monsters split off from the main bunch that thickened where the heroes were headed. A arrow of light flew into the air and exploded, some kind of signal, his eyes followed the branching monsters, if the road at his back led to Ryute than those creatures were headed its way and they were closer to it than he was currently.. Behind him he could hear the marching of footsteps and the pounding of horse, it sounded like an large group headed to the wave. Well that made sense these were the forces that had stopped the first wave, between them and the three heroes they should at least last long enough for him to deal with the splinter group.

Picking up the Raccoon girl who blushed but did not complain he began to dash at towards the horde of monsters aiming a little bit ahead to try and meet their vanguard from the front. As it turned out by doing this he found himself at the town of Ryute a mere thirty seconds before the horde would reach them.

Adventures and soldiers alike stood ready their faces pale outnumbered hilariously they knew there was very little chance this would turn out well. But stand they did ready to face the wave of darkness about to engulf them, he put down his companion she would have to walk the rest of the way to the battle he had something to do. He gave Raphtalia one last nod before he started running.

He jumped clearing the line of adventures and soldiers, the men and women stared in shock as the suicidally outnumbered hero of the shield charged the horde of darkness. Even the monsters seemed to be able to feel a bit of shock as the slowed for the barest instant. There were locust like monsters, skeletons with weapons, ghouls with weapons. Swarms of large wasps that belonged in nightmares, and in its center a large monster. A Ghoul fifteen feet tall and build like a brick wall. A brick wall that wore armor and had an axe big enough to split a well sized tree down the middle with ease.

That one was Ranma's target, the otherworldly martial artist clashed against the wave of calamity for the first time. The wasps were the vanguard and there where the first monsters to reach him. Perhaps one hundred in all, they died in the first moments. Every single one of the attempt to swarm the Hero stingers flaring out like daggers ready to tear rend and pierce flesh.

Ranma jumped a few feet into the air and spun, it felt like so long ago since he had learned this incredible ability Kachu Renshin Amaguriken from which after rigorous training the student will have developed an amazing speed, allowing him/her to throw a thousand punches in the time it usually takes to throw one. When a move is made by a master of this art, it seems like nothing more than a blur and the offense and defensive moves are nearly indistinguishable.

And Ranma Saotome while not the most powerful master of anything goes...yet... he was without a doubt the second. And master meant master, to the eyes of the soldiers and adventures it was exactly that. A blur of fists one hundred deflections and several hundred attacks over the blink of eye. The wasps exploded, literally becoming almost unrecognizable, even as he landed the martial artist was moving.

A line of skeletons stood in his path blades flailing as he avoided ones slash and with a massive punch send the armored body flying backwards breaking through several other skeletons and two locust's. He blocked a blow on his right as he stepped through the hole he had made. He kicked out with his left leg sending the poor skeleton through ten of its compatriots. The monster moved to surround but even as they did he charged up and threw Moko Takabisha straight in front to him. The blast of pure life tore through the skeletons and ghouls like butter tearing a straight line to the biggest monster in the horde glancing of its armored leg and into a group of Locust's where it exploded killing scores.

Ranma charged the gap, had he been in girl from he would have made it to the monster easily, but in guy from about half way through weapons began to strike, swords, claws, spikes, using his shield to protect his head he let his body take most of them, and every single one glanced on him. Several of the more rusted sword simple shattered to pieces, his clothing and skin combined turned claw and fang as if it were the strongest plate mail.

So this was the power of the shield hero, hell he was properly tougher than Ryoga now. The one area of combat his rival had surpassed him in, but now it seemed things had changed. The large ghoul let out a roaring battle cry as Ranma neared him and the gap his ki blast had created closed. With a laugh of pure battle lust he jumped using the heads of the monsters as stepping stones.

The Shield morphed into the Sword Horn from as he leapt to the side still balancing on skeleton heads to avoid a mighty swing from the head monster. The swing cracked the ground and destroyed about ten of its own monsters as Ranma focused his ki to his legs and leapt forward and up destroying the monster he had been standing on with the force of it.

He just made it over a horizontal cut from the huge axe and Ranma stuck as he smashed into the creature's head the Sword Horn piercing flesh and bone alike. Backed by his guy form's supernatural strength the things head simply exploded grey matter raining on the monsters behind it. The large body fell backwards crushing more of the monsters beneath its dead weight.

Ranma by in the first ten seconds of battle had killed the commander and a fourth of the monster horde. That was when the town defenders hit them Raphtalia the point of an arrowhead formation of soldiers and adventures.

The horde was already in disarray and the unity became shattered as that happened, Raphtalia was a monster on the battlefield, her Katana sheared bone, flesh and chitin with equal impunity. Her body bent and swayed using her agility and strength to its fullest as she ducked a blow and cut the creature that had done it in half at the waist. Moving forward her blade blurred as she moved past four ghouls. There was a pause before black Ichor shot everywhere and bodies fell to pieces.

Ranma jumped off the body and began treating thought any monster close enough, whether through bravery, stupidity or they simply did not care the monsters did not flee from him. Locusts dashed forward only to be thought back there chitin exoskeletons shattered and there life fading with the black Ichor the monsters had for blood. Those watching would later recount an almost whirlwind like blur of motion as anything that came within ten feet of the shield hero left that area looking like they had gone through grinder.

Intermixed with the deadly assault of fists, feet and pointy shield several more lethal balls of ki were thrown out hitting groups of monsters who looked like they might be regrouping. The Town defenders also did well, there weapons were empowered by the aura of the Sword Horn which raised allied attack. The monsters were weaker from the same aura which lowered theirs. Several of the defenders almost fell but the Shield Hero or his companion were always there at the right moment, taking hits if necessary to save the lives of the defenders.

The battle ended in three minutes as the last of the monsters were finished off by the defenders. Ranma took a moment to catch his breath and made his way over to Raphtalia, who was bleeding from several cuts, he himself only had some minor bruising so he ignored that and closed his companions wounds with a touch to the shoulder, ki healing was an amazing thing.

Ranma turned to look at the otherworldly crack in the sky, he needed to get over just in case things were not going well "Raphtalia" he said.

"Yes Master" she answered understanding his intentions.

"Ranma!" he stated "Not master" he grabbed a bottle from his side and dumped it over his head, and boy became girl they needed speed right now.

Girl from was still strong enough to easily pick up Raphtalia, around her the town defenders stared with their mouths open. Well that happened a lot "Make sure to watch out for stragglers" she told them before dashing off towards the wave.

She had never before moved at full speed, but here and now for the first time she did. Raphtalia held on for dear life as the world took on a strange stretched look. The crack in the sky grew bigger and bigger at an alarming rate as Ranma arrived on the scene of the battle.

They had been coming up a hill and she had lept skyward clearing one hundred feet as for a moment they seemed to glide over the battlefield. It was a good way to see what was happening, the forces of Melromarc was facing the wave head on. The crack from which the monsters were pouring through acted as a choking point part of the forces were trying to keep it contained while the other part was facing the ones that had gotten through. It seemed the heroes companions had split up among those groups. The beefier warriors were with the part of the army holding back the gate while the mages supported the Knights and soldiers involved in the open part of the conflict.

She spotted the other three heroes a short distance away from all this fighting a rather tough looking creature. It stood fifteen feet tall on all fours with the wide strong shoulders and paws of a lion. Its back end was black with sharp goat like hooves and where its tail should have been was as black snake that looked venomous as hell.

The creature had three heads in the front centermost being the black head of a lion with a mane of blood red. To its left was the head of a dark furred goat with curling obsidian black horns and acid dribbling from its lips and mouth. One the right was the head of a black scaled dragon had spit fire at any opening it could see. Each head had eyes that glowed red with dark power and its movements were faster than a creature of its size should have been able to do.

But the three legendary heroes seemed to be faring quite well against it, Itsuki was standing far back moving between mounds of dead monsters. Every time one of the heads tried to use its breath attack it got an arrow in the roof of its mouth. Even if it did not stop the attack it did make it highly inaccurate. Itsuki was front and center with the thing Motoyasu right behind him the legendary sword dealt ferocious wounds to the neck and body of the monster and whenever a head went for him or the poison snake tail stuck Motoyasu was right there with a pike like spear warding away blows with agonizing thrusts.

"Hold on" she cautioned Raphtalia as they began their descent, the knights on the frontlines of combat had seen a lot. It had been there blood and sacrifice that had allowed them to survive the first wave when there had been no heroes. They had fought monsters from the deepest nightmares and kept their sanity, but a dead drop gorgeous redhead carrying a beautiful Raccoon girl hurtling from the sky was a new one. Especially when the girl landed on top of a ghoul crushing it into a pulp put down the other girl and then seemed to blur in every direction in a single instant.

What was even more shocking was when every monster within a fifteen foot area of the girl was sent flying with broken necks, spines and other less pleasant but lethal injuries.

"The heroes seem to have got that monster under control" she told Raphtalia "You say with the lines and help them as much as possible"

"Master what are you going to do?"

"Its Ranma dammit and I'm don't worry about it."

Turning to face the enemy Ranma charged her ki empowered battle cry echoing over the entire area of combat. She was moving so fast that it seemed like there were ten of the her at once. Each strike was sent to a lethal area as she had not the strength of her male from to pulverise things into paste. But lethal strikes were exactly what they sounded like and monsters died around the rampage of the Shield Hero.

The monsters themselves quickly noticed the change; within their ranks tearing them to shreds was single human girl with a shield. As one the back ranks fell upon the foolish mortal only to find a web of death, every strike a miss, every charge blunted. A few strikes found their mark only to be turned by the power of the shield one or two managed to hit flesh but nothing happened.

The flow of the battle changed then, it was not the humans fighting desperately to simply hold a line. Now the monsters were fighting to hold a semblance of order as a Ranma Saotome tore apart their lines like paper.

Three of the giant ghouls charged her, perhaps out of all the monsters here besides the one the other heroes were fighting they were the only ones capable of doing any damage. But they were big and most of all slow, they could no more hit Ranma then they could hold down a cloud, then they could capture a moonbeam.

The lightest jump carried her over the axe swing, she landed on its haft running up it and jabbing the sword horn through the first's ones brain. As it fell back she leapt off it on to the next one performing the same kill strike leaping up this time. The axe swing from the third missed by a hair's breadth and even as the metal had passed under her she pushed off it using it as leverage. Her shield morphed into the diamond shard shield. Pointing it like a gun at the last ghouls eye while upside down she fired and a shard width of a thumb and forefinger touching and the length of the shield itself shot out like a bullet.

It pierced the eye and had enough force to protrude out the back of the things head before it stopped. As she fell skeletons bunched up spears held up to skewer her as she fell, with a manic grin her hands moved and she caught hold of one of the spear heads balancing her body straight up. The haft bent but did not snap, so like a pole vaulter she used it to flip over the group of monsters and land behind them. They died or re-died in the case of the skeletons in the next instant as blows attack joints and other important parts broke them to pieces.

That broke the dark army that had escaped the crack, its sub commanders were dead. Its formation shattered and a swath of their army had been decimated by the hero of the shield. Ranma sensed rather than saw this and with a leap that carried her above the battlefield she resurveyed the situation. Whoever was commanding the soldiers and knights knew what they were doing, fully half of the forces that had been battling in the field had been transferred to the gate force. Even at half strength the army of the field was in no position to lose anymore thanks to the pure havoc Ranma had wrecked on the forces of the wave.

The Heroes were still in battle with the Chimera and since that seemed to be the next biggest threat on the field that was where Ranma headed. She landed back where she had leapt from aimed herself and jumped at a diganial shield changing back to the sword horn.

Her aim had been true and for an instant she closed her eyes and focused power into the sword horn charging it with her ki as is she was doing Moko Takabisha. Like she expected the shield changed the way her technique worked, the horns glowed as if under intense heat and the glow turned to brilliance as the light merged. Her shield gave off the impression of having a single blade of light rather than two razor sharp horns that it truly was.

She arched the jump at about three hundred feet in the air and began decent, Sword Horn extend she plummeted towards the chimera like a small comet. At any other point in the day the creature might have noticed that but it was furious and desperate as the three insects before it turned out to be a deadly threat.

What was supposed to happen was Ranma crashing into and striking its back and stunning the creature. After all this was the boss of this wave was it not?

What actually happened was slightly different, The heroes and monster looked to the sky at the last second as Ranma with a blazing shaft of pure life smashed into the monster. Smashed and went all the way through it… Everything fell still as the Chimera gasped as its body registered a Ranma sized hole through its back, spine and chest.

The hero of the shield was just as surprised as everyone else at just how much damage had occurred, perhaps the other heroes had been on the verge of killing it already?

The Chimera fell over with a loud *thump* as the heroes of the sword, spear and bow stared slack jawed at the girl before them. Ranma looked over at the corpse frowning the diamond dog had been way tougher than that.

Well whatever not like it mattered, now she just had to go help the gate guard "You three we're needed at the gate lets end this wave."

She did not wait for a response as she dashed past them becoming a crimson blur as she raced across the battlefield. With a tensing of the legs and leap her body flew once more across the field, over the battle lines at the gate and into the center of the creatures trying to push through. More things died as the shield hero tore her way through any within her path, as before nothing could stop her, nothing even came close.

A sound filled the air, a horn whose sound sent chills down the spines of any who heard it. As one the monsters pulled back retreating as above them the sky began to close. Ranma gave them no reason to dawdle as she continued to massacre whomever she could reach.

Faster and faster the crack began to close and Ranma grabbed a ghoul before it could enter. "I dont know if you can speak or relay messages but just in case tell whoever is sending you and your like that the legendary heroes are back and we will annihilate anything sent against us."

Lifting the ghoul in the air she made sure it surveyed the battlefield took in the carnage that had been wrecked. "Now get out of my sight" she tossed the monster back through the crack just as it finished closing.

And with that the second wave was over.

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><p>...Well at least the fighting part.<p>

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><p>It took a few minutes to find Raphtalia, she was with the soldiers killing off the remaining monsters. Seeing that she was alright Ranma turned away and made her way to off the field of battle. She managed to scarf down some food on the run before she made to the spot she wanted. The battle had been sudden quick, and no prior planning could have fixed what came next. The wounded, the dying lying in rows on the ground moaning in pain or screaming in agony. Most of them had been conscripts gathered together only the core of the gate guard had looked like professional soldiers<p>

The battle had been easy for her but for these men it had been a life or death struggle, nurses in nun like outfits and clerics casting spells, doctors closing wounds moved among the wounded. Each waging their own private war with death, the Sword Horn morphed into the Reiki Shield and she went to work. Starting on the nearest one a young man a bit older than her lay gasping, she touched his heart and stomach.

Chest, lungs, parts of his ribs were punctured, Ki flowed out of her mending, fixing, healing, twenty seconds and done. She did not stop for a moment moving to the next one, a nurse's eyes widen in fear as she saw the shield hero. But the fear left for wonder when a man who had been nearly disemboweled was restored.

Ranma ignored the sudden looks as others realized what was happening, this one taken a spear in the gut, the wound was not deadly but some sort of rot was worming its way through his body. The Ki burned that away mending skin and bone alike, and after than another and another, soon the nurses, doctors, and clerics, stopped their glances the shield hero was saving lives right now and they had to do the same.

Hours passed as Ranma and the others labored, pages ran among the clerics handing out potions that restored mana. They yelped when Ranma grabbed several of her own but after downing them and going back to work the pages made it a point to bring her some along with the rest of the healers. Again who ever ran this army must have know something like this would happen and they had at least made sure the healers would not run out of power.

Granted the potions did nothing to help the exhaustion but nothing was perfect, three hundred soldiers had been involved with the battle. Even with Ranma's help a fourth had taken wounds of some kind, and half of those men had been wounded bad enough to end up here. But the healers, every single one of them worked until they dropped. Two or three dropped, got back up again and started working. Ranma followed their example moving from person to person healing and saving.

Raphtalia found her later that night tents had been set up over the day and patients moved to beds, cots, hay beds, anything more comfortable than the ground. Most of the healers were asleep, passed out from pure exhaustion only Ranma and several of the strongest clerics remained standing.

Ranma was standing over the last person left in the tent she was in, it was another young man. He was badly burned with acid that had eaten away a good portion of his skin and both his eyes one of the unlucky ones who had caught a stray blast of acid from the Chimera. The last mana potion delivered to her lay on the floor drained and as Ki flowed from the hands of the shield hero skin began to regrow. It took every last drop of power to rebuild the eyes and even then it was not the man's original color. They green as Ranma's own now and they blinked open watering at the sudden light that had pierced the darkness and saw women standing over him. Her tired eyes determined, her fair skin matted with sweat, dirt and blood. A body hardened by training and combat, she was beautiful, she was "Minerva" he said.

Those awake those who had been saved by the hero of the shield heard that word and saw that it was fitting "Minerva" they said as if in prayer.

Ranma stumbled and might have fallen but for Raphtalia catching her "Master" she said gently "You've done enough"

Ranma opened her mouth to protest but could only groan in protest, Raphtalia ignored it and carried the martial artist out. Said martial artist was too weak to do much of anything and by the time they were halfway to the spot the Raccoon girl had prepared for them Ranma passed out.

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><p>Some inconsiderate asshole woke her up the next morning with a horn none the less, the sleep Ranma had gotten allowed her to get back to her feet and Raphtalia was right there looking like she had been up all night.<p>

A man sat on a horse looking down at her frowning "I was told this was were the shield hero was sleeping where is he?"

Ranma waved her arm with the Shield on it "What" she groaned as her stomach gurgled.

"My message is for the"

She gave him a glare that almost made him wet himself, and the horse was riding simply let loose its bowels right then and there "I'll...make...sure...it..gets..to..him" she said in clipped voice.

"Um, ok they king is putting on a feast for the hero's their presence is requested by the king so he may give them their rewards."

"The king made it quite clear to m...to the shield hero that he was not welcome."

The courier shrugged "I'm merely the messenger"

Ranma sighed "You can tell the king to go screw himself; I have to get back to healing the wounded."

"Um master" Raphtalia whispered "New healers arrived this morning and you healed the last one in critical condition before you passed out."

"Oh" her stomach growled again "Never mind don't tell him that, we will be there." Ranma paused and shrugged "Let's go see if we can borrow horses"

They passed a nurse serving bowls of soup to men in line and Ranma looked at it longingly, on of the men saw her looking "Minerva" he whispered. Every soldier turned and as one they moved out of the way clearing the way to the soup caldron. Ranma blinked, well this was strange but perhaps they were rewarding her the best they could for helping them.

She walked up quickly to the nurse who gave her a look something in between revulsion and respect. That was new one even by her standards she took two bowls of soup one for her one for Raphtalia and walked away. The eyes of the men following her until she was out of sight, "What's going on Raphtalia?" she asked.

"I don't know" The Raccoon girl said just as confused as her master was.

"Hey you" Ranma called out to one of the non wounded soldiers, the man snapped to attention like he was being reviewed. "Yes"

"Um...at ease?" there was an awkward pause "Do you know where we can borrow some horses?"

"I know how you can talk to Shield sama" the man said still ramrod straight. He pointed to a tent among the many, it was larger than the others around it but no overly so. "Captain wishes to speak with you."

"What for?"

The man shrugged "I don't know, I'm just a soldier"

The two made their way over to the aforementioned tent it had two well armed, immaculately dressed almost Knight looking men guarding the entrance. "Captain wishes to speak with me" Ranma told them.

"My apologies miss the captain wishes to speak with only you can you companion wait out here?"

"Its fine" Raphtalia told her before things could get awkward.

Ranma moved forward and the men stepped to the side in perfect unison, inside the tent was a plain cot, one chest and desk that looked like it could be pulled apart and moved at a moment's notice. The Captain stood behind it facing the entrance to the tent, to many who first looked upon him he was an unremarkable man, tall with light grey hair and a plain face if it was not for his huge shoulders. Armor always made them look bigger and right now they looked almost deformed, he was taller than her with grey eyes that had seen much, lost much and won much.

Ranma however saw more, the eyes had a strength in them, not the raging fire that powered herself or the strength of stones that underlie the old ghoul Amazon elder. Nor the divine wrath that and rage that was the Phoenix god Saffron. No it was something different something Ranma found more impressive, there was a strength there older and humbler. As steady and sure as the rolling hills, as set in place as the mountains themselves as unchanging in the face of turmoil as the waters of a deep well. This man was dangerous not for his power but for who he was, a kindred spirit one who protected the weak.

"Greetings" he said voice low and rough "Shield hero?"

"Its a long story" Ranma said "And to make it really short certain events cause me to be either man or women."

"Hm" the Captain said "I will not pry, I am Captain Cyril Commander of the Queens first"

"Ranma Saotome hero of the shield"

They exchanged grips and the man's hand was strong, Ranma noted a greatsword leaning against one of the tent posts. "You wished to speak with me?"

"I wished to thank you for your efforts in yesterday's conflict and the aftermath, I was front and center with my men on the field when you arrived." A strange grin flashed over his face for a second " It was a thing of beauty to watch those monsters torn apart."

Ranma returned the exact same grin "Happy to help"

"Your arrival changed the way we could fight, with you there I was able to reinforce the gate force and stop the flow of reinforcements completely. Then when you brought down the Chimera and got the other heroes into the gate guard they were able to push them back."

He looked away eyes distance "Twice before we have battled the wave but never have we managed such a crushing victory." Eyes turned back to Ranma "I saw the other heroes fight, they were good but you, what you did was on a completely different level."

"I had an advantage when I came here" Ranma explained "I was already strong"

Cyril pulled out several scrolls "According to our best best guess we were outnumbered four to one so there were around twelve hundred in battle and that is not including the force that went for Ryute Village. You practically single handedly annihilated the four hundred or so monsters, that attacked it. Thank you by the way for saving the village"

"No problem" Ranma answered.

"You then covered the ten miles between the village and the battlefield, destroyed almost a half of the monsters in the field, killed the chimera and pushed the forces coming through the tear back almost to the point where you could have walked through and to top it all off after that exhausting battle you go over to the wounded and start saving lifes like its going out of style with magic that apparently is on par with master level healing and more versatile to boot."

There was a pause "You killed around one thousand monsters, the boss of the wave and saved over sixty critically wounded soldiers, drank thirty two mana potions which by the way should have killed you and to top it all off you are standing in front of me this morning looking only tired. What the hell kind of level are you?"

Ranma glanced at the stat screen "32" she said

"The Chimera was level 25, the sub commanders those big ghouls you killed were level twenty and the rank and file monsters were anywhere between 10 and 15 even given that you were twice as strong as the average monsters there is no way you should have torn through them like that."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I wish to understand your power"

"Why?"

"So I can build my men around it, so I know how to command my troops when you arrive because apparently you are worth over a thousand soldiers and thirty healers by yourself."

Ranma pursed her lips "When you put it like that it sounds a lot more impressive than it really is, for instance it only took me one strike to kill an average monster and my defense meant anything short of the sub commanders could not touch me. In my world I learned how to strike several hundred times per second, by doing that you lose some of your strength for speed. Did you notice that I never used that ability against the sub commanders in girl from it would not have done much. My mobility enabled me to be in the thick of fighting and stay there thus I did not have to worry about friend and foe every movement, every shadow was an enemy so I did not have to watch was I was doing. That thing with the chimera surprised me as much as anyone else but I think the other Heroes had already weakened it enough so that my attack destroyed it. Again my fighting at the gate was spent inside the horde and not near allies so I could go all out and no bother where by attacks were going."

She paused for a moment "The healing was as impressive as it sounds I'm not gonna lie and that mana potion thing I can't explain that."

A wave of weakness washed over her and she fell forward Cyril's hand shot out and kept her from hitting the desk but she knocked over a seaming mug of tea. "So there are some side effects" The Captain noted, Ranma missed that staring at the liquid on the ground.

"Does tea in this world melt the dirt?" She asked.

"What?"

The Captain looked at what she was seeing and his eyes darkened at the sight of the liquid eating a hole about six inches into the earth, the weakness passed and Ranma straightened. "Guess not"

The dark look passed and suddenly the man looked tired, if Ranma was guessing right he was the better side of forty. "Fifth one this month" Cyril sighed.

"Assassination?"

*sigh* "I have no idea, though that was the first subtle attempt at it, the last one was a rockslide."

"What the hell is going on I thought the wave could end the world."

"I know" the captain said with just as much exasperation as ranma felt "Then end of the world is upon us and people still spend time effort and money maneuvering for power." The man looked at the steaming hole in the ground "Thank you for saving my life even if it was only by accident, I should not be bothering you in internal troubles." The tired look disappeared as the man centered himself "I will have to be more careful" he shook his head like a dog shaking off water. "What I called you here for was to offer you my heartfelt thanks, you saved the lives of my men and for that I am in your debt."

Ranma met him eye to eye "I am a martial artist, I protect, you owe me nothing."

A small grin touched the man's face "Now that is what the heroes of legend would say"

"However Me and my companion would like to borrow or buy horses apparently we are being summoned to the castle"

"I see, as it so happens I am being called to the same, it would be my honor if you would ride with us."

Ranma nodded "Sounds good one condition though"

"Yes?"

"I need a cup of boiling water"

Several minutes later the now male Ranma and Raphtalia walked to the mounts with the slightly surprised Captain Cyril knowing someone could swap genders and seeing it were two different things. Thankfully the whispers of Minerva among the troops had quieted down most probably did not know of the Shield Hero's curse.

"So what kind of horses do you have" Ranma asked

"We have something better than horses" the Captain answered in his normal tone. They rounded a corner and came face to face with what he was going to be riding. It was something akin to to an ostrich a bird like creature with wings and three pronged taloned feet it was covered feathers which bunched around the neck area where it met the body. There were several different colored ones each ridden by more of those immaculately dressed guards. Only two were open a yellow one and a brown one. "These are philo rial and they put horses to shame"

The brown one made a pleased squawk and nearly knocked the captain over in its excitement at seeing him. Cyril just scratched its head and with a smooth action mounted a saddle attached to it. She will carry you and your companion" he said pointed.

Raphtalia paled slightly as Ranma copied the way the Captain had mounted his and offered her his hand. She took it and he lifted her up placing her in front of him "Hup hup" the Captain called and as one the philo rial moved off at a good clip. Raphtalia tensed up and her face turned paler, it only took a moment of study to figure out what was wrong. "Motion sickness" Ranma said out loud.

He placed one hand on her abdomen and the other over her heart and began to channel his ki, he pretended not to notice the moan that escaped her as he did this. Her parlor returned to normal and they stayed like that for the next two hours. The philo rial's did not seem to tire in the slightest even though they did not slow. It was not long before the castle and the town below it came into sight.

The air was festive almost and people milled about the streets, stores and restaurants with a positive air. All moved out of the way for Captain Cyril he looked both intimidating and important in his legion esk armor. The portcullis was open as they rode into the courtyard and dismounted servants came and began to care for the philo rial's. Ranma and Raphtalia both followed Cyril as he seemed to know where he was going. The sun had set in the sky by this point when they entered the banquet room. With all the flashy nobility and fans of the three heroes milling about their entrance made no stir.

Raphtalia's eyes shone as she looked upon the feast "Such a feast" she whispered.

Ranma's own stomach made a growling sound at the sight as well, even if his body could take the Ki overusage his body demanded compensation for it. That compensation was demanded in the form of food "Thank you for getting me here" he told the Captain.

"Thank you for saving my men hero of the shield"

"I'm starving right now so me and Raphtalia are going to take full advantage of the feast."

"I have no doubt you are starving, the healers by themselves eat enough for a hundred men after their battle healing and you did more than any, agian you have my thanks"

Captain Cyril thumped his fist to his heart almost in the same way military men saluted in Ranma's world. He then turned and marched forward people moving out of his way within even noticing they did so.

Ranma and Raphtalia grabbed plates and piled on the food, rather than going to a table they just stood there and ate. Meat's vegetables, fruits, nuts, desserts Ranma ate them all at some point people around him began to just stare in fascination. Even Raphtalia who ate a great deal found herself for once outpaced by her master.

This had never happened before, Ranma had never been in this kind of state of hunger, at one point he almost ate a candle stick without noticing. Raphtalia pulled it out of his hand just in time, he finally noticed the silence that had slowly filled the room as he put the last drumstick in his mouth.

He looked back down the feast table that had been full when he started, now not even scraps remained. That was when Motoyasu appeared from the crowd having exited on of the side doors, "Ranma!" he howled out.

"Hmm?" was his answer he got as Ranma had a full mouth right now.

A glove flew through the air and bounced off the shield hero's forehead "Duel with me!' the man snarled.

Ranma continued chewing "Hmm?" he said a little louder.

"I know it all! Raptalia-chan was only tagging around with you because she is your slave?"

*Blink*Blink*Swallow* Ranma pulled the half eaten drumstick out of his mouth "Pardon?"

"I did some digging that girl was seen in the ownership of a slave master"

Ranma nodded "Ya she escaped I helped her."

"Sure that would be what you say" Motoyasu answered in disgust. "Have you no pride, no heart?"

This guy was really good at not listening "She is not a slave" Ranma said slowly as if to a intellectually challenged person.

"Then prove it"

"...how?"

"Give her permission to leave you and see if she stays"

Ranma turned to Raphtalia "You do know you're free to leave if you wish?"

"Not a chance in this world or the next" she answered calmly "I am not Ranma's slave he saved me from such a fate."

"Then why have people heard you call him master" asked the spear hero.

"Because he is my teacher, he's teaching me how to write, how to fight, and how to become strong."

Motoyasu's eyes turned grave and sad "I understand miss, you do not wish for the pain the slave seal will give you, you need not say more."

"Slave seal?" Ranma asked confused.

Raphtalia flinched slightly "When slaves are bought from a slave master they are marked normally over the heart." Her hand lowered covering the area between her legs "Sometimes other places, it cause pain when the master wishes it and prevents the slave from acting against their master in any way."

Rage rose in a sudden burning heat but Ranma beat it down Raphtalia's body language was clear it had been down to her more than once. "Are you marked?" he asked ignoring the indigent spear hero.

"No, the seal is expensive and when a slave is sold the price of destroying to previous seal is deducted from the overall value of the slave. So the slave trader's and slave masters who buy and sell don't seal their don't plan on keeping them long enough for them to be of use."

"I see"

"Do not ignore me" the spear hero snarled "Your acting is worthy of an award but I know your true character and I will free this fair maiden from you evil clutches."

Ranma frowned as a huge sense of deja vu "I will free Akane and the pigtailed girl from you sorceress powers Saotome" man he had almost forget how annoying Kuno was.

"Look" he said calmly "She is not a slave, she wants to be here and no I do not use her for personal amusement. Hell for that matter if I wanted a women that badly I am for the only person alive who could use myself."

That shut up the spear hero real good as his mouth moved but no words came out against that fact, "You, you" he floundered.

"I have heard Motoyasu's story" a voice said.

"Oh come on!" Ranma yelled as the King made his way into view, the people parting to make way for the man.

"I have heard that one of the heroes was using slaves, if you refuse Motoyasu's proposal than I shall order it, a duel there shall be."

Ranma just stared at the man "This is meaningless I am" Raphtalia was saying, she was interrupted by a Knight moving behind her. She sensed it at the last second and ducked avoiding a gag that the man had been trying to place over her mouth. Two quick steps put her back to back with Ranma, his hand stopped her from drawing forth the black katana. This was no place for that, Ranma analyzed the situation calmly "Hey Cyril" he called out noticing the Captain standing off to the side looking at the king with an Oh my gods is he really that stupid look.

The man sighed deeply "Yes Shield Hero"

"If I decide to fight my way out will you try to stop me?"

"Even though I know the outcome of that yes I am honor bound to try"

The martial artist nodded turning to Raphtalia "Ok so my prefered course of action is to accept this stupid duel, kick his ass and end this whole thing right now. However its your life we are talking about so I'll leave the choice up to you. Do you want me to duel or fight my way out of this place, I can do either one but I like Cyril."

"Your arrogance knows no ends Shield" the king snarled "These knights are my best lv 70's with all of them here you would have no chance."

"Shut up the adults are talking" Ranma told him easily.

"Ranma you should duel I have every belief that you will win."

"Ok then, thank you Raphtalia after this you get anything you want my treat."

As soon as those words left his mount he felt as If he had said something dangerous, the light that entered his apprentice's eyes told him that she already had something in mind.

"Ok" he said turning back to the fuming spear and king "Lets get this over with"

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><p>It should not have surprised him that everything got set up so fast, on the kings command<p>

the servants had quickly and efficiently turned the Royal Gardens into a dueling space. Mein had made her appearance as the Spear Hero waited on the other side. She stood beside her "hero" and looked positively pleased after all he was the shield hero how could he possibly beat the spear hero.

It seemed they had all forgotten the incident at the Dragon Hourglass that or the more likely case they had convinced themselves that he had gotten off a surprise attack. Well far be it from him to begrudge the illusions of fools and schemers. But he at least had to try "You do remember what happened last time I attacked you right?" he said in a bored voice.

The shield hero absently rubbed his chest, you caught me by surprise nothing more I am at least ten levels higher than I was at that time."

So that was where his confidence came from in this world levels were everything, unfortunately for him Ranma did not follow those same rules. Or perhaps better to say he had a huge starting advantage that he was in no way inclined to lose, all hail martial arts.

"Now then" the king said " Let us commence the duel between the Spear Hero and the Shield Hero! The victor and the vanquished shall only be determined either before the finishing blow is directly dealt or when one of them accepts their defeat!"

There was a round of laughter among the nobles, they all knew that a shield was for defence. They were well aware of how one sided this was going to be and they loved it. Ranma grinned to himself this was going to be a lot more fun that it should be.

"This time you have no surprises Shield, we all know about your one attack skill. Do not think that just because you last hit the boss it means anything at all."

Ranma ignored him poping his arms and shoulders he glanced at Mein who was giving him a haughty expression of arrogance and assurance. Rolling his eyes he flicked his eyes back to a much more pretty sight, Raphtalia was standing calmly to the side watching him intently. Several knights had tried to gag her before the match but Ranma once glare from Ranma had served to remind them of what happened last time the hero of the shield had struck a guard. Repairing platemail was expensive and not cost efficient so they left her be.

She smiled as he looked on her and he felt as if he needed no more encouragement, "Begin" the king shouted.

Motoyasu charged almost before the word even finished thrusting his spear "Chaos thrust" he shouted power humming along the length of the spear. The thrust manipulated sevenfold as phantom spears lashed out in unison each striking a different place. It was a good skill especially against against unprepared opponents. However the attacks shared one thing in common range. A complete idiot with a slight amount of training would be able to see that attack that was coming. And if one was not only decently smart but well trained they could guess the range of the spear itself.

At the right moment Ranma jumped back just far enough that the first thrust missed and thus the six other stirks fell short too. The spear hero hissed in frustration as he took another step and thrust the spear again. Stepping forward and to the diagonal he avoided the second attack, one more step took him into range of his fist. Motoyasu fumbled for a moment as he tried to readjust, Ranma tapped him lightly on the shoulder at just the right moment. The spear hero fell to the garden floor "A spear like that is a mid range weapon you should be prepared for someone doing what I just did, its basic tactics for fighting a spear." He gave that statement like a lecturer to a particularly dim witted student.

"Are….are you mocking me?"

"Nope just telling you some basic flaws I see."

The man took in an angry breath and got back to his feet, Ranma saw the motions of his shoulders and core as even thought the man pretended to be waiting he prepared a thrust. With the same move as last time Ranma stepped into the effective range of the spear. Motoyasu smiled and the weapon shrank to a spear only four feet long, with two swaying steps Ranma moved out of range. "Much better" he told the spear hero.

That earned him a glare and another attack as the spear returned to its previous form, Ranma dodged each blow with contemptuous ease making a point of not using his shield at all. "Your form is better than I thought it would be, but" Ranma caught the haft of the spear holding it so it could not be moved. "You telegraph all your attacks I know children you read your movements." Granted those children were from the Amazon Village but the point still stood. The spear morphed out of his hand and suddenly the spear hero was holding a halberg. It was essentially a spear with an axe head on the side.

"Shut up" Motoyasu snarled as he jumped into the air brandishing the weapon like a over sized axe "Guillotine Drop".

Ranma took exactly one step to the left.

The force of the blow cracked the ground and perhaps if Ranma had been unprepared it might have knocked him down. But as it was 'Telegraph" Ranma told him "That was even easier that to avoid than the thrusts.

Before the hero could lift his weapon Ranma put on foot on it and pushed down, once again the spear hero had to morph his weapon to get it back. Around them the laughter had stopped, no one quite understood what was going on right now. What should have been a one sided beatdown was looking like a match between an adult and a toddler.

"Damn you Villain" the man snarled realizing it as well "You think that this is all I have?"

"I should hope not" Ranma told him easily.

"Grrr"

"Calm down Spear hero, getting angry accomplishes nothing in fact it makes my life easier. Your attacks are faster when you are angry but."

"Turbulent thrust" the hero howled.

Ranma again took a step and avoided the blow "You are way to easy to read, its almost pitiful."

The man's entire body trembled in wrath "Is that how you played your games back in your world? You found something hard so you raged at it until it went away?"

Motoyasu froze blinking as Ranma waited as calm made its way back to the spear hero. "Anger has its place in a fight, every emotion does but you must be wary, you must train yourself so that even in your anger the power you possess does not lose it purpose."

For the first time confusion won its way to the spear hero's face, he did not ask the question but it was obvious "Why are you helping me?"

Ranma did not want to or feel like answering that question so he did not rather he waited until the spear hero got over that and readied himself for the fight. "I do not know what you hoped to accomplish fiend but you will regret calming me"

*Sigh* at least half of what he had tried to accomplish had worked. The spear hero moved his eyes bright and clearly thinking, his hands wavered slightly and for the first time his thrust met the shield of the Ranma "A faint excellent" he told him "Much much better, however" Ranma ducked a thrust swiped the hero's legs out from under him and moved back "You have a lot to learn, but at least now you know."

In the stands Captain Cyril watched the proceedings from the look they shared for a moment that man understood what he was going and why. The Captain gave him the slightest nod of thanks at his actions, then flicked up warningly to the stands were the king was sitting. Since he was looking he was able to feel the magic that was gathering around the kings daughter. Invisible wind swirled around her body as she watched the match with intense angry eyes.

He almost laughed out loud "It seemed she was planning to make sure her hero won no matter what she had to do. Motoyasu attacked again and Ranma avoided most of the blows while deflected two with the stone hide shield. They were standing over the area of the dueling ground where Motoyasu had shattered the ground. Ever so slightly Ranma stomped on one of the rounded chips of stone sending it flying into the air at eye level. He then gave his most telegraphed punch in the world that Motoyasu avoided hitting the chipped stone head on.

He was not even looking in her direction but the chip of stone shot through the air and smacked the inner part of Mein's wrist. She let out a sudden cry of pain and the magic vanished the controlling will behind it lost concentration.

Motoyasu did not see was Ranma had done but he did see that for a moment his enemy was distracted, the spear changed again it was as long as the original spear but the metal head was yellow and jagged, engravings of runes that flashed with stormy light were engraved on the shaft and glowed with subtle power.

The spear hero moved in a fast rush not holding back anything as Ranma's eyes returned to combat "Thunder's Wrath" Motoyasu howled to the air. Blue electricity exploded from the runes dancing along the length. The metal head of the spear turned white as energy filled it, the spear hero thrust and there was a roar of thunder to accompany the attack.

Ranma simply held up his hand palm facing the blow.

The spear stuck, stuck the exposed hand of Ranma Saotome head on a shock wave of force blasted outward. Painful electricity danced along the shield hero's arm, there was a blinding flash of light that took all sight away. When it faded the spear hero could be seen starring in numb astonishment. A spear thrust that would have punched a hole in stone had penetrated only a quarter inch if that into the martial artist.

With no particular effort the martial artist shoved back sended the stunned hero sprawling, angry blotches where the electricity had burned flesh covered the Ranma's arm and a constant stream of blood trickled out from his palm.

He held up his arm and let out a breath, the power of his ki engulfed it, his mana bar lowered but as it did so skin was born anew and the hole in his hand closed. Motoyasu seemed to have nothing to say, just sitting there staring. "You have shown me your best" Ranma said "Now its my turn."

The spear hero scrambled to his feet as the stone hide shield morphed into the Crystal Shield, he thrust it into the hear shouting "Crystal Encase" Green crystal shattered the earth below Motoyasu's feet. The man yelped as it grew and covered his body over the course of several seconds, he twisted and struggled but the last skill had taken a lot out of him.

Ranma held up his hand "Shield Prison" Four large metal shields materialized around the encased spear hero along with a fifth that covered the top. Chains materialized between the shields interlocking them, words came to Ranma's mind as he prepared the combo ability "Let the embrace of earth be your prison, let the bite of metal be your torment till the end of days, by earth and sacred steel be bound in the might of Gaea"

There was a flash of light that shrouded the shield prison and when it cleared the spear hero could be seen his entire body save his head frozen in metal that had taken the shape of the crystals.

Ranma looked around him calmly "I believe that is game set and match"

The spear hero's face set itself as he tried and tried to move, but it was pointless Ranma had trapped him completely and as it was now he could kill him at his leisure if he so chose. "Well King what say you?"

"What dark forces have you been dealing with shield to gain that power!" The king howled compelay enraged.

*sigh* "There is no reasoning with you is there?

Captain Cyril stood up "My king you shame your office and you shame the queen with your actions do as is required by law."

"You overstep yourself Cyril" The king said in a low dangerous voice.

The man had far too much steel in his spine to even be so much as fazed by such a glare "Do as is required by law or so help me I will do it for you"

That threat seemed like a slap in the face to the king and his face went livid "Arrest him" he snarled.

The knights did not move "Your majesty, we do not have the right" One of the commanders said "He is the Captain of the Queens First only she has the right to arrest him."

Tension skyrocketed as Cyril's guards who had been politely keeping their distance made their distinct presence known as they surrounded their Captain ready to defend him. The king opened his mouth to say something but a smooth voice interrupted him "Enough king"

Ren Amagi hero of the sword approached the king in his black armor beside him was Itsuki hero of the bow in armor of green. "We watched the fight, the winner is clear."

The king closed his mouth, apparently the heroes coming down on Ranma's side meant more than the Captain of the counties frontline defenders. "The winner" he hissed as if being whipped "Is the Shield" he did not bother to add hero to that.

With the crisis averted Ranma walked back to Raphtalia as he did so he snapped his fingers loudly and the crystal prison around the spear hero melted sinking back into the earth leaving no trace.

He took Raphtalia's hand and they said nothing as they walked away nothing really needed to be said the hero of the shield had won and that was that. Raphtalia did not ask for anything though what he had said before the match about her asking for whatever she wanted was clearly on her mind. Well no sense in worrying about it now, beside them Cyril appeared from whatever out of the way passage he had taken.

"My apologies shield hero" he said as he fell into pace with them.

Ranma shrugged "You were doing your duty, nothing to be ashamed of."

The man shook his head "No I would never apologise for that, it is for our kings actions towards you"

"It does not matter, he convinced himself that I raped his daughter and with her holding story it kind of makes sense."

Cyril hesitated "Loyalty or truth" he muttered " Shield hero, hypothetically what would you do I you knew a piece of information that say someone like you had every right to know but did not. However If you knew there is a good chance there would be negative consequences for my country if you did. Would you tell me?"

Ranma pursed his lips "are you sacrificing children to a dark god?"

"No"

"Committing Genocide?"

"No"

"Are you doing anything reprehensible?"

"The king is but no I am not."

There met eyes "You are loyal to this country, you have an oath to it. Even though I am really curious about what you are talking about I respect that fact that people follow their oaths and promises. What does your oath say?"

"That I should let the queen decide if you should know"

Ranma gently punched the metal pauldron on the man's shoulder "There you have it"

Cyril started laughing then, it was a deep sound one not used to be uttered but it sounded true and full. "I have never met anyone like you Ranma Saotome"

"I am who I am nothing more nothing less"

"I see" Cyril handed him a bag "This contains four hundred and fifty gold coins, the king tomorrow is going to hand out rewards and all he plans on giving you is living expenses."

Between that and what he had gained from the Diamond Dog fight he was decently wealthy now "Thank you Cyril"

"It is the least I can do Hero of the shield"

They reached the portcullis and the Captain stopped seeing them off as they headed into town "I will see you again at the next wave" Ranma called.

"One would hope given that we do not know where they will appear"

Ranma paused thinking "Can't I just meet with you before it and bring you with me, I mean Raphtalia came with me when I was teleported."

Cyril frowned "A three hundred man party...you do know that will severely decrease the experience gain you will get."

Ranma shrugged "During a wave its far more important to protect others than gain power."

Cyril smiled and pulled out a stone "When you are ready put some blood on this and you will be where you need to be." The stone was black and had a sigil carved into its center"

"I will see you then" Ranma told him.

"Thank you for helping us" Raphtalia said.

"As before you are most welcome, I pray your journey will bring you strength" The Captain's eyes sparkled "Minerva"

Ranma did not hear that last part as he had been moving away from the man, he glanced at all the money he had acquired in this past week. Well that only meant one thing in this world, time for better equipment.

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><p>There first stop was Oyaji's weapons shop, the old man was sweeping the floor when they walked in "Hello you two" he greeted them "Good to have you back."<p>

He and Ranma traded grips "We are outfitting her" Ranma said pointing at Raphtalia "Since I now have money I want the best you got."

"Um master"

"Ranma" he corrected her.

"Ranma you don't need to"

He waved a hand "Your weapon is fine but lets get you some great armor"

Oyaji glanced at the Katana belted to Raphtalia's side "I see you put it to good use"

Raphtalia smiled at him "I could not ask for anything better Oyaji-san"

"Please call me Oyaji, the san makes me feel old."

"Of course" she said.

He went over to the counter and pulled out several stripes with numbers on them "How much are you willing to spend?"

"What is the best armor you think you can make for her?"

He began his measurements "What level is she?"

"30"

"Hm...it would cost about a thousand silver pieces, from her looks I would say medium armor would be the best and I could retrofit some Drakesteel armor into a Darksteel vest."

Ranma nodded "How long will it take?"

"Three days, I allready have the Drakesteel changing it is the hard part."

"Got ya" Ranma said as he put fifteen gold coins on the table.

"Thats too much" Oyaji said instantly.

"Consider this a debt payed for your kindness when no one else was." Ranma grinned "Besides its not like you can make me take it back."

The old man laughed at that "I did not get to be where I am today by turning away money." He finished up the measurements. "What do you two plan on doing?"

"Gona grab a few more magic tomes, and train up Raphtalia until the armor is done"

"Dabbling in magic are we? Nice."

"About time I happened to magic instead of magic happening to me." Ranma said agreeing.

The shopkeeper frowned at that confused but did not push "See you in three days" Ranma told that him as he and Raphtalia left that weapon's shop. Before heading to the magic store Ranma made a detour to the Dragon Hourglass to check on on the time until the next wave. The time said 40:14:10:09 which would give them plenty of time to prepare.

"I thought you would be here" a voice said as Ranma turned away Ren Amaki hero of the sword was leaning against the wall of the sanctum.

"Ren" Ranma said amiably.

The dark haired boy nodded "You were amazing fighting the wave you know, I've never seen a shield do so much damage."

"Well I had several advantages you three did not."

Ren hesitated "Do you mind if I ask how and what?"

"As best as I can figure in my world things are no where near as advanced as your worlds. From what you three spoke about you had games that did something with your mind to make you think you were in it, correct?"

Ren nodded "It was called nerv gear in my world"

"Ok, well in my world while we did not have video games like that we did have something this" Ranma held up a hand and a glowing ball of ki appeared. "I was able to do things like this long before I came here, in my world martial arts can make you superhuman and it is all based on using your body's life force, your ki to do so."

Ren looked thoughtful "Had you said anything like that at first I would not have believed you." he shook his head "But seeing you jump huge distances, watching you one shot the boss monster."

"To be fair you guys weakened it considerably"

"And then watching you tear through everything else like paper, you have to be around the same level as us but your power easily dwarfs ours."

"What did you come here for Ren?"

"I wanted to ask if you knew a way to get as strong as you?"

Ranma pursed his lips "One my skill screen there is a martial arts skill, do you have one like that."

Ren's eyes flicked up "No I don't see it but I believe you when you say...oh there it is. Through thats funny it just appeared."

"According to the skill I am a grand master of martial arts and I get a ridiculous amount of stat ups, growth boosts, and bonuses from it. I also have a few more things that give me similar boosts but they dangerous and are beyond reach."

Ren nodded at that "Strange that this skill was not there before you mentioned it"

"I would offer to teach you but with the legendary weapons I don't think that is an option."

"Probably not" Ren sighed

"Perhaps there are teachers out there if you looked for them"

The boy looked towards the east "There was a man who offered to show me some of the way of the blade but I was too busy."

"That might be a good place to start"

Ren nodded "Indeed," there was a few moments of silence before he said "Since it seems not everything is on the status window do you know what weapon proficiency is?"

Ranma shook his head "No"

"I see, if you use the same weapon for a long amount of time, it will get stronger. And when a weapon becomes obsolete, you can convert that proficiency into energy and transfer it. Storing energy unleashes extreme powers. This is most important."

"Ok how do I check that?"

"Open your inventory and check the weapons you have been using the status should be there telling you how much energy has been charged."

Ranma opened the stone hide shield, and at first there was nothing but after squinting at it for a moment there was a sound like a bell and the bar Ren had been talking about fell into place.

Stone Hide Shield

True Power unsealed: Damage Reduction /1, Equipment Bonus: Damage Reduction /2 Defense Bonus 10, Bonus Skill: Hide of the Ancestors (Once a day skill that grants a plus /10 Damage reduction to the user"

Proficiency 100

Had Not the damage reduction been only 2 and the defence 7 before?

"Ok I see it so what do I do?"

"Convert it"

Ranma touched the proficiency tab the number disappeared replaced by a message "Acquired 2000 skill energy"

"Alright I got the energy now what?"

"Touch the shield you want to enhance but you may need to take the proficiency points from other weapons to do so" Ranma ended up taking the skill power from nearly every one of his lower shields he did not use any more. With that done he reset the skill proficiency,

Stone Hide Shield

Improvement DR/5

Unsealed Ability improvement DR/5

Hide of the Ancestors(DR/15)

"Wow" Ranma said

"It does give nice bonuses" Ren said by way of agreement.

"Ranma" Raphtalia said "I have the skill proficiency too but only with the katana"

Ren blinked "You have a katana? Where the hell did you find one of those?"

"I knew a guy" Ranma said in a noncommittal way.

The boy laughed "You will tell others the secrets of your power but not where you find things?"

"Not if it will get the one who sold this to me in trouble."

"Why?"

"Apparently its illegal to so much as take one of these weapons out of its country of origin much less sell it."

"Apparently I need ten thousand skill points to reset it, right now I only have two thousand." Raphtalia said as her eyes flicked between Ranma and her stat screen.

"That is a lot of points" Ren said frowning "Nothing I have yet requires that much."

Ranma shrugged "The damn thing talks so I'm not surprised"

"...It talks?"

"Yep, and that's not the strangest thing that has ever happened to me"

"The girl thing?"

"Ya the girl thing trumps all that."

All three of them made their way out of the dragon hourglass sanctum "Do you mind if I ask one more question?"

"Only If you don't mind walking, I have to get to the magic shop."

Ren fell into place beside the two of them "Your battle with Motoyasu you were teaching him weren't you?"

"So?"

"He was trying to harm you, to humiliate you why would you take the time and risk to help him?"

"In the first place I could have beat him blindfolded with my arms and legs chained together. It was no risk on my part as my little stunt with his thunder lance proved. But the reason is simple, that wave we fought, I would not have been anywhere near as effective as I was without the help that everyone brought. The soldiers that kept the main body near the gate, you three that held up the boss so he could not wreak havoc. I was able to save a village, help kill the boss, fight in the main battle and doctor the injured only because of everyone else there. You, Motoyasu and Itsuki by virtue of the weapons you hold each of you has an incredible amount of potential." Ranma grinned a bit "I want to see what you will become, and perhaps have a few good fights with you when you get there."

Ren was quiet for the rest of the walk until they reached the magic shop "You are a strange person Ranma, but I think, I think," he shrugged "Well it does not matter but it is good to have you on our side."

"I could say the same for you hero of the sword, you died to protect someone else in my mind there are few better ways the go than that."

Ren's eyes went distant "You really think so?"

"What was that quote from that old book?... oh yes greater love hath no man than one who would give his life for his friend."

Ren's mouth twitched "I heard that somewhere too, never thought about it too much though."

They traded grips "Fight well hero of the sword" Ranma said

"Fight well hero of the shield" Ren parroted.

He walked off into the town having apparently having his own errand to run, Ranma entered the magic shop with Raphtalia already knowing what he wanted. He grabbed up the intermediate level magic books for fire, lighting and wind. It had only taken him one night to get the wind magic to work and he was almost done with fire. Thunder was still untouched but it was next on his list.

The old lady looked from him to Raphtalia confused, "Where is the young lady who was with you child?"

Raphtalia's mouth twitched once "She's nearby"

"Ah doing something else right now?"

"In a manner of speaking mam"

The woman's eyes turned back to Ranma then to his shield, they flicked over him noting the lack of weaponry. "Are you the hero of the shield son?"

He nodded, the shopkeeper took in a shaky breath placed a soft hand on his shoulder "You saved my grandson, he lives with his family at Ryute, thank you."

Warmth spread through his core at that, to hear he had made a difference was the best reward he could ask for. He tried paying for the books but the lady would only take half of what they were worth, said that it was the least she could do.

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><p>So richer by three magic books and an armor on the way for his companion they made their camp in the planes outside of town. After everything had been set up Raphtalia went to work on her letters and Ranma to his magic…*Splash*...her magic. Despite really not wanting to she made herself pick of the book of flames, beside their camp was comfortably large stream and Raphtalia had more of that medicine on hand so she had no excuse not to try and finish it.<p>

It was annoying though, wind had come so easily not one of her spells had felt overcharged like they had with fire. With tome in hand she got a safe distance away not wanted to accidentally incinerate anything.

She had finished reading the tome before the wave had started so she was ready to try the last spell "Flame Stream" With a breath she focused gathering mana from within herself "I am the hero of the shield who commands the origin of power, I have read and deciphered the law of nature. Become dust at the merciless heat of flame" ""Etain ・Flame Stream"

What was supposed to come out was a jet of flame that remained for a short time, kind of like a weakened flamethrower. What happened was white hot flash of flame that's backlash sent Ranma back clean through a tree and crashing into the next one.

She just stayed there breath knocked out of her lungs "Ow" Ranma whispered. Ki flickered out mending flesh and bone making pain flare up then vanish. Ok so something was really wrong with her fire magic, she was damn sure that flame jet was not meant to be a passable substitute for a jet engine.

"Calm mind, clear heart" she muttered "Something it wrong, how do I find out?"

It came to her after a little bit an Idea that might work, standing back up she began to chant the spell again, but this time gathering less than a tenth of the mana required to power the spell. Ranma did not focus on the results rather closing her eyes she turned her senses to the pathways of ki and mana that shared the same space coursing through her body.

And there it was, the mana took a path that did not follow the path it should have, the magic that was going to create fire took a detour one that led right to where the sacred fire of Saffran the Phoenix god had permanently scarred him. The mana passed through that area of her body, why had she not noticed it before. Ki flowed in veins that closely followed the blood of ones body but somehow it now avoided the area under her scars. It did nothing to damage the way her ki worked otherwise Ranma would have noticed it before.

The spell flared and died without sending her flying but now at least she had a better Idea what was happening. The mana she was using to create fire was being amplified by something within the scar. Trouble was she had no idea what it was, her ki was avoiding that area she could feel nothing of what was happening once her mana was amplified.

But the good part was now Ranma knew how she was going to learn fire from now on, popping her shoulders time to get this party started.

The flames Ranma through around scared earth, toppled trees and generally sent everything within a mile running for their life. Her hand were red and her back still hurt from the blast through a tree but she was not covered in burns so that was a plus. Even though she did not understand it she for now would have to simply treat fire spells as really inexpensive mana cost spells. She did not want to know what trying to overcharge them would do. At least not until she managed to finagle some fire resistance if there was such a thing.

Her new shirt was agian for the most part ripped to shreds but she had bought eight of them for situations like this. Popping her neck she was about to walk back to camp when she saw something strange. Within the area of destructions she had caused as a puddle of blue slime and it was making noises. *Bloop*Bloop* and somehow the noises sounded pitiful and scared. Frowning she walked over to it and crouched taking a closer look at it *Bloop* it made that noise again.

Slime, that was what the shield said it was a low level monster that required hydration to survive. They could digest almost anything but as a general rule they did not attack unless threatened. *Bloop* it said again.

Given how much heat she had been throwing around it made sense that this thing was dehydrated, it made a sad scared noise and again and Ranma sighed. Taking out one of the flasks of water she poured it onto the poor creature.

The effect was amazing. the water vanished into the slime and the puddle began to pull itself together. The ooze congealed into a round ball the size of Ranma's palm, it was blue with two shapes of a slightly darker blue that looked like eyes. On top was an small antenna like thing that was a shade of turquoise with a bulb of yellow at the top. *Boolp*Bloop* was the sound it made in between bounces as it hopped up and down.

"Um you're welcome I guess" she told the creature.

*Bloop*

Nodding she turned away and began to walk. *Bloop* Bloop* her head turned as the slime bounced after her. It stopped when she did. Watching it she took one step further*Bloop* it followed her again.

For some reason Ranma felt as if she was watching a puppy that having just been feed will follow the person that fed it in hopes of more. She spend two minutes staring at the slime which besides the occasional *bloop* watched her back.

"Ya know" Ranma said out loud "I always did want a puppy but pop would not allow it."

She knelt down and held out her hand, *Bloop* it said as it bounced happily into her hand. Holding a slime as like holding a water balloon only more viscous and pulsing with life.

A message appeared "A Slime had joined your party."

"...ok then...that happened." Ranma murmured.

Gently she placed it on her shoulder, the body of the slime took on an adhesive like state and it stuck itself to her shirt. The walk back to camp was interesting as the slime nuzzled against the side of her neck.

Raphtalia was kneeling over something her face a mix of excitement and worry "Master" she said as Ranma approved "Look"

Cracks had appeared all over the egg as the baby monster inside got ready to meet the world, Raphtalia turned and blinked "Master is that a slime on your shoulder?"

Ranma nodded "Apparently its part of your party now"

"...ok then" Raphtalia said a strange expression on her face.

The egg shell trembled rocking side to side, in one tremendous effort shell shattered apart. Fluffy pink feathery wings flexed and stretched, wide black eyes and a small yellow beak. A single piece of its egg shell still lay atop its head. In perfect essence it was a very large fluffy extremely cute chick.

The first thing the chick's eyes saw was Ranma and it let out a *Pii* of delight as it bounded off the incubator little wings flapping hard as it landed on Ranma's head. *Pii*Pii* it squawked. *Bloop*Bloop* the slime on her shoulders answered.

*Pii?* the bird turned to the slime on her shoulder.

*Bloop*

*Pii?*

*Bloop*

Ranma looked at the shield for some reason it did not tell him what the baby bird was, which made no sense whatsoever. She reached up and gently scratched the top of the birds head.

*Pii* it squawked happily.

The slime moved from Ranma shoulder to her sternum so that it could see her better *Bloop* it said.

Ranma blinked once and with a shrug used her other hand to scratch the slimes...head?...Body?...plasmoid?.. she did not know. But apparently the slime liked it so that was good, she hoped.

Raphtalia was smiling at her, the girls eyes were shining with something Ranma could not place but it made her feel light on the inside.

"Master" she said calmly "I think things are going to be very interesting for us."

Ranma did not doubt that for a second in fact that was practically the standard of his/her life now. So no she had to figure out how she was going to take care of and train two monsters, thank whatever divine force was out there that monsters bodies kept up with their levels.

Fun days were ahead for all.

Ranma glanced at the remains of the of the birds egg...why the hell not. She picked up the pieces and placed them in the shield. There was a flash of light and Ranma let out a cry as her remaining mana was ripped out of her into the shields itself.

Requirements for the Demon Trainer series unsealed.

True Power unsealed: Monster Growth Correction: Large

"...oh yes fun times indeed"


	6. Chapter 6

I know its been a while but I was on Thanksgiving break so plz forgive me.

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><p>Ranma and his companions entered the palace again around noon, he was back in his male form and ready for whatever happened. Glancing from the bird which was on his head to the slime attached to his shoulder he looked to Raphtalia and asked "Why did you name them Suu and Filo?"<p>

"Did you not like the names Ranma" she asked worried.

"No, no its just that," he patted the slime on his shoulder now called Suu, whilst the baby chick called Filo sat calmly on top of his head make *Pii* sounds occasionally. "Why did you give the slime and the bird feminine names?"

"Ah that" she was quiet for a moment "I don't know it just felt right"

Shaking his head he decided to ignore it and continue as if nothing happened, he had asked Raphtalia to name them and she had. "Um Ranma do...do you like monster girls?"

"_What the hell kind of question was that" _Ranma thought. "I don't judge any girl based on what they are, its what they do that counts." Perfect answer, he was getting good at hard questions.

Raphtalia frowned apparently not satisfied "Well what kind of girl do you like?"

He forced a panicked expression off his face "Um is that a trick question?"

"No its an honest one master."

"Stop calling me that" he pleaded.

"What kind of girls do you like?"

"We are about to walk into a court whose king is completely hostile to us, can this wait til camp?"

"No"

...women…

"I like girls that are strong, sure of themselves, willing to call me out on my bullshit but for the love of god don't abuse me for it. I girls that can overcome challenges, that will stand by me side." A thought struck him and he did not question it "Generally I like girls like you"

That apparently was the answer she was looking for as her face seemed to brighten and she moved swiftly to hug him for an instant and let go, and the best part about it was he really meant those words. Raphtalia was a strong beautiful amazing female, who he did not mind being around. Now the only problem was the gnawing fact that she was still ten years old. That made acknowledging the way his body reacted to her really hard to do, especially when he remembered her hands tracing every part of...

Ranma flicked himself in the head causing a surprised *Pii* from Filo, now was not the time for such thoughts. Right now they were going into a place where he needed to be ready, the doors opened and everything looked pretty much the same as the first time he had arrived here. Nobles off to either side, the king and his assistant near the throne and the three hero's already standing before it waiting.

Ranma waved to Cyril as he passed him and the Captain gave him a nod of encouragement, they both shared a small smile at what had passed between them yesterday. Raphtalia stepped off to the side as Ranma moved to his spot before the king, whispers were already going around the court about the monster baby sitting on his head and the slime on his shoulder.

Said monsters were eyeing everyone with interest though Filo seemed most interested in the brightly colored banners.

"You dare bring monsters into my court!" the king snarled.

Ranma just gave the king his best screw you smile and flipped him the bird, Ren choked back a laugh at his antics. While Motoyasu studiously avoided looking at his fellow hero and Itsuki rolled his eyes as if such things were beneath him.

"Get those things out of my sight right now"

"Then you should just close your eyes oh king" Ranma told him in a serious voice.

"Are you"

"Yes I am mocking you do you really have to ask?"

The king seemed to arrest his motion to call the guards over; even he was beginning to realize the depths of Ranma's power. Even if he thought it was from a dark source he had to at the very least understand that Ranma was not someone that could be easily struck at.

So he did his best impression of an actor and pretended that Ranma did not matter to him, he motioned to the assistant who handed Ranma a pitifully small coin pouch "For efforts in the battle against the wave… 5 silver"

People started murmured around him and perhaps it was his imagination but some of the nobility next to Cyril were giving the king disapproving glares.

The kings voice got louder as the assistant handed Motoyasu a huge back "For completing requests and in expectation for Motoyasu-dono's other great deeds, we award 4,000 coins."

Ranma felt like snickering he had gotten more than ten times that much, but all he did was keep his annoying smirk not even blinking at the how badly the king was trying to screw him over.

"Next is Ren-dono, for displaying similar bravery during the wave and completing requests, we award 3,800 coins" Ren looked down at his bag then over to Ranma. He looked like he was about to say something about what was happening but Ranma very gently shook his head. Ren caught the motion and raised an eyebrow.

"Its fine" Ranma mouthed

The sword hero nodded and did not say anything more "Itsuki-dono... Your heroism echoes throughout the country. For your great work in times of strife, we award 3,800 coins."

"Funds have been taken from shield to repair the damage done to my garden during the duel, you will need to work harder."

The king gave him a superior smirk at his words no doubt thinking how clever he was, ...and then Suu spit slime in his eyes. Ranma was treated to the sight of the king rolling around on the ground clawing at his eyes and screaming in pain.

Guards reacted on instinct several hauling the king back four trying to apprehend the culprit, Ranma saw the exact moment when their conscious mind reasserted itself and told them that it was a horrible idea to try and grab the hero of the shield. Unfortunately for them that came too late, four lv 70 guards went flying, two through stained glass windows, one was tangled up in the chandelier above and the last was twitching in an imprint on the solid stone ground.

Ranma looked up calmly into the silence "Hey Ren do levels mean more to hero's than others? I mean they were supposed to be lv 70 for crying out loud."

"I do believe that hero levels do more than normal ones but I mostly think you have a ridiculous head start in terms of power."

"I see thanks"

The king had stopped yelling as he realized that it was not acid that had been thrown in his face just slime, normal everyday slime. He scrambled to his feet face a mask of rage "Get out, Get out, Get out of my castle!" he roared like a five year old.

Ranma gave him a mocking bow "As you wish king"

Ranma

Exp 7000

Lv 36

Raphtalia

Exp 5000

Lv 32

Filo

Exp 5000

Lv 18

Suu

Exp 5000

LV 18

Damn those guards gave great experience but really the diamond dog was way tougher, perhaps monster levels meant more than human levels in some cases as well.

Ranma's head suddenly got a lot heavier, the chick on his head looked like she doubled in size *Pii* it said in excitement. On his shoulder Suu had grown as well, it had gone from palm sized to basketball sized in the course of several seconds *Bloop* it said.

Ranma did an about face and marched out of the room muttering about levels and how they made no biological sense.

Raphtalia looked something between horrified and amused, as Ranma stepped outside the the throne room he noted Cyril starting to follow them. So he waited until the man had caught up before walking. "Sorry" he said "Did not expect that."

Cyril looked like he had been about to have a heart attack "Scared me out of five years of my life. I thought i was going to have to fight you for a second, then I remembered slime's have to take some time to for their bodies to become acidic. By the way where did you get a Philo Rial chick?"

Ranma and Raphtalia traded a look "No where important" they said at the same time.

"I see"

"Thank you by the way" Ranma told him "I was not sure what she was."

"Well I can tell you from experience that they are great friends if you treat them right" he scratched the head of Filo and the chick made pleased sounds. "Granted I have never seen them grow like that over the course of several seconds but..you are a hero so really anything could happen."

Ranma held back a gulp at that thought, "What are you plans now?"

"I'm thinking of dashing to Ryute and the scene of the wave and and get some new shields, then head back here grab her armor" He pointed at Raphtalia "After that we have a monster to hunt down."

Cyril sensed the sudden shift in atmosphere as Raphtalia's face darkened "Which monster?"

"The Cerberus of the wave"

"Ah that thing" the Captain's eyes went distinct "I lost quite of few men driving that thing off"

"Do you know where it went?"

"No but one of our trackers Antillus Crassus lost a friend to it last I heard he was near Fura following a lead."

Ranma stopped and pulled out a map "Can you mark where that is?"

Cyril made a few motions with a pen and ink circling a space "You take the main road to here, and turn off here and several miles later you will find Fura."

"Thank you Cyril"

*sigh* "Before you go do you have any ideas how to get someone off a chandelier that is forty feet in the air?"

"You could get someone to jump up there, that's what I would do."

*sigh*"Never mind"

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><p>With that they parted ways as Ranma exited the castle hopefully for the last time until the next wave and made their way to camp. After packing everything up and making sure Suu and Filo were fed. Which was fairly easy, Ranma would go out hunted and return with anything he had found this time being over one hundred balloon corpse's and Filo was devour the meat and Sue would take everything that was left, bone's skin, ect. He had tried to offer it normal meat but it seem perfectly happy with the leftovers.<p>

That did take awhile but to his surprise both of them ate until there was only twenty left, Filo then very much like a baby simply dropped over and fell asleep. Suu did not have any physical change whatsoever from all that food and Ranma after thinking about it moved the remaining twenty balloon's over to it. The slime devoured each and every remaining one over the course of the next hour. Raphtalia was given some martial arts lessons during this time and once everything had been taken care of they left began to make their way to Ryute.

Out of mutual understanding they moved at a good but slow pace, there was no wave or major threat right now so slow walking was fine. Filo woke up around the evening hours and seemed to be extremely energetic. Since they were going at slow pace Ranma put down the baby Philo Rial and let it waddle around beside them. Suu seeing that plopped down as well and bounced along beside its fellow monster.

Ranma watched them in fascination as the slime propped the baby bird up whenever it seemed to be about to teether over. Raphtalia seemed just as intrigued by this behavior as well "What do you think" he found himself asking her.

"I have no idea, monster raising was never something that came up in my childhood"

Ranma frowned looking at the two's antics "Weird"

It was dark when they made camp and after setting it up they quickly went to sleep, Ranma himself was still recovering from the healing he had done at the wave. Even though it did not affect him much he was only around ninety percent, it would take one or two days to return to one hundred.

He woke up the next morning warmer than he should have been, he tried murmured something and got a mouth full of feathers. He instantly came awake sputtering and coughing, Filo had gone to sleep next to his chest and Suu had apparently appointed itself Ranma's pillow so she had been under his head the whole night.

Filo had grown overnight, her feathers had become whiter most of the pink fading, her tiny legs were now long enough and large enough to support her weight. In fact from Ranma's practiced eye they looked like legs designed for immensely powerful kicks. He gently touched the long legs feeling out the sinew and bone, tracing the muscles. Holy crap if her growth continued like he thought it was going to one day his kick was be weaker than hers.

*Pii* Filo said in a sleepy voice blinking awake. The bird turned its now lengthened, ostrich like neck towards him watching him with large trusting eyes.

"Good morning" he said scratching Filo's head.

*Bloop* Suu bounced beside him. "And to you to Suu" the slime bounced happily at his words. "Are you going to grow this fast too?"

*Bloop*

Raphtalia sat up after hearing the noise he was making "Morning Ranma"

She flinched slightly at seeing Filo "Wa?"

Ranma shrugged as well "Good morning to you too and no I don't understand either….unless the demon trainer shield had something to do with it. Now that I think about it that makes the most sense.

*Gu* Filo said making a new noise, a growling sound emitted from her stomach.

Right just because she was going at a fast rate did not diminish the need for food, in fact it probably just increased it. He got up "I'll go hunting be back in a half an hour"

*Bloop*Bloo* Suu said hopping up and down "Ok you can come too" he told it.

The slime jumped onto his chest flattening and spreading out until the slime wrapped around chest and back like armor. Well an armor with two eyes in the center of his chest, he checked the status window "Hey my defense and elemental resistance went up cool"

Raphtalia just stared at him "Aren't you worried Suu will digest you?"

"Nope, the power ki is awesome and besides Suu would not do that, right Suu?"

*Bloop*

"See bloop"

*Gu* Filo said stomping her foot on the ground in an almost jealous manner "What you want to come to?"

*Gu*Gu*Kewk* "Ok, I guess we are all going hunting" Raphtalia smiled and for some reason it caused one of his own to spread. Man the smile was pretty, "So off we go I guess."

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><p>They hunted until Filo and Suu could eat no more, both monsters gained four levels and both grew again. Filo this morning had been at Ranma's chest, now it was as tall as his neck and giving more muscles and feathers by the second. Suu did not seem to change at all but Ranma noted that it form would shift violently when returning to ball form as if trying to change something. On a side note as Suu's level went up its defense and elemental resistance it gave him a boost as well when she was in her armor form.<p>

When the baby and the slime were finished Ranma and Raphtalia shared a meal together as the two rested. At first they had been across the fire from each other but Raphtalia got a determined look on her face and had crossed over to side very, very close beside him. He found himself not minding in the slightest and what's more grateful that she was doing it. The hell was wrong with him?

After that they began to walk again and by midday they were close to Ryute Village, Filo had grown even more. The village looked like it was doing well, thanks to his efforts during the wave there was very little in the way of rebuilding to be done. The villagers were among the bodies of the destroyed monsters, harvesting valuable parts, chopping up some of the more animal like ones for meat and burning the bodies to ash when they were through.

At first they were so busy that no one bothered to give him a second glance, at least until one of the kids there said something. Eyes turned to him and after a moment of quiet hundreds of voice joined as one in a shouts of joy. The surged toward him causing Filo to jump around nervously but many just wanted handshakes or to slap his back, voices cried out there thanks and children gave him hugs.

At first he was stunned by the reaction, never in his world had he gotten such a greeting. More often than not he had been punished in some way for his actions even if they were in self defense. The general consensus of these worlds' words was "Thank you Shield Sama"

He let the sudden flood of thanks go on until Filo made an impatient snort and stomped the ground hard enough to kick up dust. The people of the village realizing that it was enough and knowing they had more work to do themselves let Ranma move on to where the monsters lie. Filo walked over to them as well and began to eat before Ranma could tell her that eating this flesh might not be a good idea.

He waited but nothing bad seemed to happen so he left her to it, he went among the monsters gathering and absorbing what he needed to while Suu bounced along behind him and Raphtalia worked on her Katana forms.

Requirements for Netherworld Locust Shield has been unsealed.

Requirements for Netherworld Bee Shield has been unsealed.

Requirements for Netherworld Corpse Eater Demon Shield has been unsealed

Requirements for Bee Needle Shield has been unsealed.

Bee Needle Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: Attack +1

Netherworld Locust Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: Defense +6

Netherworld Bee Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: Agility +6

Netherworld Corpse Eater Demon Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: Decay Prevention (S)

The hell was decay prevention? Ranma wondered at he finished gathering what he could from this area. From there they made their way to the Chimera corpse where another group of villagers were in the middle of disposing of it. They were more than happy to let him grab some stuff off it and were also grateful to Filo and Suu who started munching on the remaining meat on the boss.

Requirements for Chimera Meat Shield has been unsealed.

Requirements for Chimera Bone Shield has been unsealed.

Requirements for Chimera Leather Shield has been unsealed.

Requirements for Chimera Viper Shield has been unsealed.

Chimera Meat Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: Cooking Skill+

Chimera Bone Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: Darkness Resistance (M)

Chimera Leather Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: Defense +10

Chimera Viper Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: [Change Shield] skill, Antidote Mixing+, Poison Resistance (M)

Special Effect: Poisonous Snake Fang (M), Hook

More shields with cooking bonus, well at least he was become quite the decent chef as of late, the last shield was interesting especially the antidote mixing part, and the poison resistance. He switched the stone hide to the Chimera Viper Shield, despite the other shield being better he wanted to see if upping his proficiency with it would unlock the True power of the shield. From what he was coming to understand the permanent bonus of true power were going to become important. Given how many monsters he could kill in a day and how fast he could do so gaining proficiency was not as time consuming as it might be especially when he used shields that were not already strengthened like the Stone Hide. It seemed if the shield was strengthened it made the proficiency growth slower.

Evening was falling by the time he was finished and Filo was the size an adult Philo Rial, he was not kidding. She had grown until she was a head and a half taller than him now with all white feathers. Its wings were fully grown though like and ostrich they would not get her off the ground. The area of her neck under her beak had a slight bushier plumage, her body was now tight with power and muscle especially around the legs and her affectionate bumps had knocked him over several times before he figured out how to brace himself for it.

So the way back moved a log faster than the way there, in fact several time Firo ran ahead of them really fast then turned around and ran back. The Philo Rial seemed to have boundless energy.

"So this is the power of a hero?" Raphtalia said out loud

"Making monsters grow since 1985." Ranma said

"What?"

"...sorry...bad joke"

*Bloop*"

"Thank you for finding it funny Suu"

"You can actually understand it can you?"

Ranma grinned "That's for me to know and you to find out."

*kewwek* Firo squawked as she bumped into the shield hero.

"Don't worry, just because you leave my sight doesn't mean I forget you"

*Gu*

"Ranma we still have a day left until the armor is finished"

He nodded "What are we going to do?"

"We are going to send an entire day devoted to martial arts" he looked over at Filo" And see about teaching her the proper way to kick, if she does not already know it by instinct."

*Bloop*

"Sorry Suu I don't know what I can teach you right now you don't have any arms and le…"

Ranma trailed off as the slime began to shake violently, there was a pulsing sound and of all things Ranma felt the creature gathering ki within itself. That was new, he had not yet seen or felt a monster that used anything other than mana.

The slime abruptly dropped into a very large pile of slime and out of it a long thick tornado like swirl of water and slime rose up. It spun until it resembled a see through oval, slowly the large egg shaped slime began to take a new shape. Mass of shifted and Ranma could only watch in abject shock. The cocoon srank inward the slime swirling and swirling and it took a moment but over a short amount of time it began to take on a humanoid shape.

It started at the extremities, fingers began to take shape, masses of slime compressing to resemble arms and legs. There were no feet just legs rising out of a puddle of slime on the ground, the head formed next a very pleasant feminine face with greenish blue eyes its yellow and green feeler still on the top of its… of her head. Other longer almost tentacle like appendages which were green color fell around her body like hair. Her chest curved out into boobs about a size larger than Ranma's girl from and the apex between her legs took on the proper shape as well. There however were no naughty bits attacked thank god, Suu's breasts looked like that of a barbie doll. The slime spun around once as if testing her new form and Ranma got an eyeful of a butt that looked normal and pleasant...for a slime anyway.

*PU?* Firo exclaimed.

"What in the name of all the gods" Raphtalia whispered

Ranma himself was speechless then to top it all off Suu said "Arms and Legs"

"you..you can talk?"

"Can talk" she repeated.

"What the hell?"

"What the hell"

"You're repeating me" Ranma muttered.

"Repeating me" she said

Ranma turned to Filo "Are you going to turn into a girl too?"

*Gu*

"I am not reassured"

Suu seemed to glide over to him, probably because where her feet should have been was a pool of slime that moved for her. "What are you" he started to ask but was interrupted as Suu's arms encircled him and pulled him into a hug. Or at least that might have been what she was attempting to do, the outer layer of her new from was not as solid as her original. Probably because she was not used to it yet, so she pulled his head right through her chest. He did not panic at this, he could hold his breath for long periods of time. He had been forced to learn how when pop made him swim from japan to china due to the old man losing their ticket buying money in a game of shells.

He could vaguely hear Raphtalia's startled yell and the sudden squawking and flapping of Filo through the sound dampening liquid but he held his cool. He could almost feel Suu panic for a moment while he waited and pull him out making noises of distress. He...she actually, Suu was a water based life form, shook her head to get the slime out of her hair. The slime girl whimpered as Ranma turned her eyes back to her. She held up a hand stalling Raphtalia as the girl was about to unleash a furious tirade.

Suu had used ki to gain this form, no other monster she had seen was capable. Suu was mimicking her words, Suu had seen her use ki so what if?.

Gently Ranma smiled at the slime girl "Watch" she said closing her eyes and focusing ki to her skin "Copy me"

Suu tilted her head and went through the motions of taking in a cleansing breath even though she did not breath like Ranma or her companions. There was a shift in the energy of the slime a build up just under the surface of the skin. Ranma placed her hand on the girl's shoulder and did not sink through. Suu squealed with delight and and repeated her attempt at a hug this time giving the martial artist a strange but pleasant marshmallow hell. All hail the art of holding ones breath.

Suu let her go gliding a step back looking down at her from and flexing her fingers as if trying to get used to the sensation.

"Master" Raphtalia said her voice dangerous.

Ranma felt her back straightened in fear "yes" she said meekly turning to the girl.

Her face was, not precisely angry no rather it was a mask of jealous envy "Um just so you know I did not teach her that."

"Suu is a her now?" Raphtalia asked.

Ranma looked behind her "She is more stacked than I am so ya."

"Is that what you like girls with big boobs?!"

"How did you get that out of this conversation?" Ranma yelled back

"You-you never let me do that."

"One you haven't tried two you are ten years" Ranma was cut off as the Raccoon girl reached around her neck and pulled her very close into her well formed chest. The hold was tight and possessive and Ranma decided the best way to defuse this situation was to say nothing. Besides this did feel rather nice, especially compared to the "you jerk hammer blow"

*Gu* a force bumped into them as Filo feeling left out made her own annoyance known. Blindly as Ranma was currently buried inside a soft dark void she reached out and managed to run her fingers through the birds feathery head.

*Bloop* Suu said as her new tentacle like appendages encircled all of them as she joined this impromptu group hug. Unfortunately the slime girl had no context of what was appropriate to grab and what was not.

"Whaaa" Raphtalia squealed as all three of them were were picked up off the ground "Suu" Ranma said calmly ignoring the feelers going across her chest and legs.

*Bloop*?

"Please put us down"

"Gut down" Suu repeated

"Yes"

The slime did so "Not to self see if you can teach what not grab" Ranma muttered as the three of them collected themselves. "Ok" Ranma said "We are not going to freak out" all three of them were looking at him "Please sit"

Filo and Raphtalia did while Suu's lower body melted so that her legs turned into goo. "Close enough" Ranma said "Ok so I am officially confused and I want to clear the air"

*Gu*

"Air"

"Yes master"

"For the last time its Ranma not master," she shook her head "Ok Suu I am going to assume you can understand me even if you only seem to be repeating things back."

"Yes Master" Suu said.

Ranma half glared at Raphtalia "You are a terrible influence"

The girls ears drooped "Sorry"

"Ok first Raphtalia are you a ten year old or adult because I am very confused and wondering if I should be somewhat disturbed at how much I react touching you."

The ears went straight back up "You like touching me?"

"_Brutally honest, brutally honest have to be brutally honest_" Ranma repeated in her head "Yes I do and that is why I am wondering if I should be disturbed."

Raphtalia face seemed to glow with happiness as she spoke "I believe Ranma that my mind has caught up with my body"

"Ok then thats one thing off the list of possible problems, next Suu?"

*Bloop*

"Can you do this?" Ranma got up suddenly blurred into a series of maneuvers and strikes, Suu reformed her legs and copied him movement for movement to absolute perfection. "Raphtalia why are slimes considered weak if they can copy anything they see?"

"Um master I don't think there has ever been a slime like this, I just assumed it was something you did."

Ranma nodded "That is very possible" she looked at her shield "I have yet to see limits on this thing."Again she got her mind back on track "Filo"

*Gu?*

"You're a good girl"

The *Kewk* sound came out again as the bird trotted over to him bumped heads with her affectionately. The force of the blow would have given normal people a concussion but to Ranma it was a nice bump.

*Bloop*

"Oh no"

Suu attempted to do the same thing and Ranma got to find out what the inside of a Slime girl's head looked like. Extracting herself from that Ranma looked around at her companions and found herself starting to laugh while not quite understanding why, it felt really good.

The martial arts training the next day went very well Raphtalia was an excellent study and had clearly been spending time outside of their sessions practicing. Filo as it turned out already did know how to kick so that was good. Ranma moved on to endurance and strength, so far eight trees had fallen to the Philo Rial's legs.

Suu, well Suu was a strange case, anything goes was a martial art whose ultimate form was copying your opponent. Suu was better at it than him, no better to say she was eons better than him she saw things one and could do it. Well any physical thing, after seeing Suu copy Moko Takabisha an incident that had nearly blown his nuts off, literally head had tried to see if it applied to magic. No as it turned out she could not copy magic spells, but still the physical thing was cool. Now he just had to teach Suu why and when to use what he was teaching her. Long story short the day was a success except for Suu randomly firing off ki blasts out of her mouth but he was pretty sure that he impressed upon her the danger of such actions...he hoped.

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><p>They entered town the next morning to get the armor for Raphtalia Suu, and Filo at his side, needless to say they attracted alot of attention.<p>

"Um master are you sure its a good idea to bring Suu and Filo along?"

Ranma too noted what had companion saw, stare's lots and lots of stunned silent stares. "Well since she decided this morning to take a from as flat as a ten year old ya I think its fine."

*Gu*

"And we couldn't leave Filo behind isn't that right girl?"

*kewk*

Raphtalia sighed, they were close Oyaji's weapon shop now and despite the people's new found fascination/Revulsion with a Suu there were people still going about their jobs. A wooden cart entered the street behind them and rumbled away. At that sound Filo turned to stare at the cart and by thunder she had a completely jealous look .

*Gew* she kawed stomping the ground in frustration.

"What's wrong?"

"GU!"

Ranma looked from the wooden cart to the Philo Rial "Are you made that there is another of your kind pulling a cart?"

The bird shook her head resolutely "Well what is it?

*Gu*

"That does not help"

Filo flapped her short wings in an annoyed fashion and stomped her feet again "I'm sorry I don't know what is wrong"

The bird sulked the the rest of the way to the shop with nothing that any of them doing helping her bad mood. The shop looked a busy this morning; there was even a line of adventures with items ready to buy.

"Hey boy how are you" Oyaji trailed off as Suu walked in beside the martial artist "...boy you were gone for three days...three days. Where in the hell did you get a monster that only exists in erotic fiction."

"...come again?"

The old man massaged his forehead as the rest of his customers quickly paid for their equipment and left though not without many, many incredulous looks at Suu who paid them no mind. She seemed perfectly fine to stay by his side and say nothing "She copied one of my abilities and one day later here we are now."

"I dont...you can't….never mind" Oyaji shook his head "You know what I don't care, your armor is finished."

Raphtalia's excited look was more than worth what it had cost to make, the Darksteel armor was was as black as her katana. The undershirt was leather and jet black scales of steel were forged into its outer layer while silk coated the lining next to the skin. It was a perfect fit quite a ferocious looking armor and accented her beauty with just the right amount of danger.

It felt good to look at her now to let his gaze linger on her figure and not feel like he was doing something wrong. He had never truly understood why men preferred women in skimpy clothing; if they wanted to see them naked just tell them. No Ranma preferred this, a women in armor a girl who not only looked good in it but wore because she was going to use it. That pretty much how his mind worked, women were at their sexiest either naked or ready for combat. A cynical person might say that such a desire was born out of his trauma from a terrible childhood and an abusive finance and they would probably be right, but Ranma would still flip that person the bird anyway.

Raphtalia seemed to sense his gaze, now that he did not feel the need to shy away from her return look he let his posture and gaze reflect how much he was enjoying this. In his world such a stance would earn him a beating faster than you could say Mallet. Here Raphtalia 's mouth tilted up in a smirk clearly enjoying the affect she was having on him.

"Will I be seeing you before the next wave?"

"I don't think so I'm going monster hunting and I don't know how long we will be gone."

"I see well make sure to stop by after the next wave I might have some stuff for ya"

They bumped fists "Count on it"

As they exited the store another cart passed by and Filo stomped her foot on the ground squawking in indignation. "I don't get it," Ranma sighed "What do you want?"

Filo growled at him, a strange sound coming out of a beak "Why are mad? I know you understand me but I can't understand you." Filo dropped her head as if saddened and did not raise it until they exited the city.

"Note to self" Ranma muttered "Find out what Filo Wants...somehow" shaking his head he said out loud "Onward to Fuma, granted this will take a couple of weeks walking."

"It will be a good time for you to train us uninterrupted" Raphtalia pointed out "And you can do some more magic training"

"I knew there was a reason I kept you around"

She grinned "You mean besides eye candy?"

"That helps too"

And so the shield hero and his companions began their quest to kill the Cerberus of the Wave.

They made excellent pace once they got on the road, though Filo often ran ahead of them then circled and came up from behind. The girl had a lot of energy and from what he had seen of Philo Rial she could run for hours before becoming tired.

As fate or more likely a board universe they met someone not an hour into their journey Ranma grinned "Hey Motoyasu hows it going?"

The man jumped two feet back as if stung by a bee, "You"

"Me" Ranma answered.

"What are you doing here?"

"Heading to Fuma, where is Mein?"

"No of your" he trailed off as he sighted Suu.

The slime stared back at him with the same smile she gave to everyone, Filo stormed up beside him and gave Ranma a bump of affection. "Wh, how, that...that"

"Strange I know" Ranma answered

"That's no fair"

"...pardon?"

"You, you have a slime girl? Where is the justice in this world I wanted one."

Ranma blinked "Huh?"

"You get dark powrs, a slime girl who you can do whatever you want with, what's next enslaving an angel so you can stomp on another of my dreams."

"Ya know" Ranma said in a deadpan voice "When I woke up this morning I did not think to myself what are the Spear hero's fetishes? In fact I am sure I could have live my whole life without knowing ….thank you for my future nightmares have a good day."

Raphtalia gave the spear hero her choicest glare "Disgusting"

Suu copied her "Disgusting"

*Gu*

Ranma looked from Filo to the Motoyasu "She called you disgusting as well, In case you did not understand that."

"Shut up you trash spear, I don't care what you or that fat bird think. In fact I am going to get stronger so that when we meet next I will pin you to the earth and stomp on your"

Motoyasu did not realize that as he had been yelling he was moving closer to them, so it was a complete surprise when Filo's foot flashed out in a kick that hit square on her target. The Spear hero's eyes when white " balls" he whimpered as he went flying five meters into the air and down to a harsh landing.

"Good girl" Ranma said patting the Philo Rial's head "Very good girl"

Raphtalia did not bother to hide her amusement and satisfaction at seeing that incident.

Ranma looked around at his companions "Well moving on" and began to walk away from the moaning hero of the spear. The girls and the bird did not object to it, however for the rest of the day both Ranma and Raphtalia had smiles plastered to their faces while Filo preened herself pleased that her behavior had been appreciated.

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><p>They stopped near evening which gave Ranma enough time to tire them out in training, however because of that there was no time for magic training. If he wanted to do that he would have to stop them earlier, good to know.<p>

Shrugging out of his clothing he stepped into the pool beside where they had camped, the cold water was wonderful on the skin as his body changed from he to she. No sooner had she settled down when there was a squawk and the sound of bushes rumbling. Filo burst out of the brush leaping high into the air coming down in a cannonball like fashion.

Ranma held her breath as a wave of water washed over her drenching her completely, she popped back up for air red hair plastered to her body. "Hello to you to Filo"

"Gu" She said as she splashed around a little before swimming up to her and splashing water on to Ranma with her wings.

She started laughing "Stop, stop you got me."

"Master are you alright?" Raphtalia said as she walked towards the pool naked as the day she was born.

Ranma started at her for several seconds mouth open, heart pounding, thank god she was a girl right now otherwise a very natural, very embarrassing reaction would have happened.

She turned away face flushed red, the Raccoon girl giggled as she stepped into the pool and sank down until her chest was covered by the water. "Enjoy master?"

The redhead turned away face still crimson "That was unnecessary" she squeaked.

Raphtalia blinked and laughed again "I don't think I ever heard your voice break before master"

*Bloop* another feminine form emerged as Suu glided over the ground to them. As she entered the water her form melted into mass of slime floating on top of the water. Her two dark eyes remained steady following them taking in their antics.

"Can I ask you a question?" Ranma said after her face managed to return to normal.

Her eyes sparkled "Yes?

"Why are you doing that?"

"Because I want to"

"I think I raised you wrong"

"You only had a couple of weeks"

Ranma sighed "Aren't you embarrassed?"

Her reply was quick and without any hesitation "As long as its you master none whatsoever'

*Thump*Thump* went her heart "I uh.. I mean…" Ranma closed her mouth at a complete loss for words.

*Pu* Filo interrupted the moment much to Ranma's relief as she started splashing them with her wing beats. That quickly dissolved into a water fight, Suu won as she could apparently fire out the water she absorbed at high speed and strength.

Thankfully things did not get more awkward save for at the end when they were all clean and Raphtalia had made it a point to walking right in front of her with that hip swaying walk that even Ranma could not do, even as a girl.

Dinner was eaten and people turned in for bed, Suu morphed back in a ball form so she could take up her self appointed spot as her pillow….*Splash*...his pillow. Filo had made her bedding ground so close to him that the feathers would act as blankets.

Raphtalia had used to have her pallet about two feet away from him but since Suu and Filo were clearly invading his personal space and he was not complaining she was starting to as well. Now a days she slept snuggled into his back, he often had nightmares of Akane finding him in this position but upon waking up the next day would feel grand to know that she was nowhere near him. Before he went to sleep he glanced over at the Racoon girl, she was becoming incredibly bold and he blamed himself for all the times he had walked around the camp nude as a she. Sighing at his own bad influence he shook himself off and closed his eyes for some well deserved rest.

Something was off his body told him as his metal clock went off at the rising sun's light touched his skin. The feathers that had been touching his skin when he drifted off were gone and he was sure there had not been a warm small weight that his arms had been encircling. The form against his chest felt like a human body but he could still feel Raphtalia against his back.

Blinking open he checked to see what is was, now there are many ways to wake up in the morning but going to sleep next to a bird and waking up with a blond winged child who was stark naked was not a particularly good one. The girl in his arms was half his height with long blond hair that fell around her neck and shoulders. Small white angelic wings were curled up against her back and an her sleeping face had a practically glowing smile as she unconsciously buried it in his chest.

…..the forest around them were woken up as Ranma's voice rang out "What The Fuck!"

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well hope you enjoyed it fanboy out.


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